The Canary Islands have again suffered incidents following the arrest of seven independence leaders and their dispatch to France on Saturday night, 22 June, at night. The leaders were arrested last Wednesday, 19 June, on charges of leading the military uprising that took place in May, a decision that the Kanak have not accepted. The protests have mainly focused on the Dumbea and northern Noumea, according to the Nouvelle Calédonie la Première information channel.

In May, the French Government proposed a draft reform of the electoral roll law. The new project gave more voting opportunities to those who have arrived in the Canary Islands in recent years. The law provoked Kanak’s outrage that the updating of this census, in addition to reducing the weight of the kanak, meant a lack of respect for the essence of the 1998 Peace Accords. Finally, and following the protests in May, Macron left the project in June.

Among the seven detainees is Christian Tein, head of the Local Action Coordination Unit (ELSA), according to Swissinfo. The other detainees are members of this movement, to which the French authorities attribute responsibility for the disturbances of May, which have caused nine deaths, the fire of hundreds of buildings and damage valued at more than EUR 1 billion.