“a major operation has enabled us to regain control of the road between Nouméa and the international airport”, explained the State representative in New Caledonia on May 19. The operation “lasted all day”. It could last “several days”. 600 gendarmes took part in the dismantling of “around sixty roadblocks”. Some of the roadblocks were booby-trapped with gas canisters, said Gendarmerie General Nicolas Matthéos.
Surrender your weapons!
“We will continue to maintain the restoration of this road at all costs”, continued the Haussaire. Starting this evening, “harassment actions” will be carried out by around 100 GIGN gendarmes on this road and on several “hot spots in Greater Nouméa”.
Louis Le Franc asked the rioters to hand over their weapons. “If they want to use them,” he confided, “it’s easy to imagine what will happen next when faced with professionals who know how to use them and will use them in a regulated context.
The State representative’s promise
While the situation remains out of control at many points in Greater Nouméa, Louis Le Franc assured us that the forces of law and order would “be able to restore order throughout the agglomeration […] in the coming days”.
“The balance of power will be reversed very quickly in the city of Nouméa and the outlying communes […] We’ll get there, we’ll have the last word, I promise all of you,” he concluded.
