During the second night in a row there are changes in the Kanaky Islands. The representative of the French State, Louis le Franc, explained that if there are at least two deaths, as the representative of New Caledonia explained, there may be up to three deaths, and other "hundreds" have been injured. The French Government reports that the deaths on Wednesday night can be 4.

The greatest disturbances have taken place in the capital of Kanaky Island, several burnt shops and independence groups have cut roads, while the gendarmites have responded with weapons. According to Le Franc, the situation already resembles a "rebellion".

Meanwhile, French President Macron convenes the Defence and Security Council following these incidents and suspends an event in the city of Fécamp on Wednesday. The Macron government has finally decided to establish an emergency situation, which has entered into force in the Kanaky Islands on Thursday at 5:00 a.m. and which will last at least 12 days.

For its part, the independence party FLKS calls for peace of mind.

Use the electoral roll to "reduce" Canacas

The riots began on Monday, when a law was debated in the French National Assembly that would change the electoral roll of that territory. This law was finally passed early on Wednesday, which has exacerbated the anger of part of the population.

The electoral roll has continued in recent decades, although today there are more people on the islands, more than 270,000 in total. However, the updating of this census is felt as a measure in Paris to "reduce" its weight and the invalidity of the 1998 Noum Agreement.

Precisely, this agreement was intended to avoid the risk of a minority of the Canacas – to learn more, we published in ARGIA an extensive report on the recent developments in Kanaky, written by Jenofa Berhokoirigoin.

In this sense, EH Bai and EH Bildu have read them by annotations and denounced that the recent law approved in Paris "ameliorates the consensual process of decolonization" of Kanaky.

Fluctuating relationship with the Metropolis

In the middle of the Pacific is Kanaky, also called New Caledonia by 19th-century colonizers. In this archipelago, the Canacas currently depend on France, but with a special status and a fluctuating relationship between the colony and the metropolis.

The independence groups have denounced that France has repeatedly obstructed the right to self-determination of the Canacas. The last referendum was held in 2021 at the instigation of the French Government itself, but it was boycotted by the independentists, who preached to postponing it for a pandemic due to precarious conditions.

Beyond the specific debate on the electoral roll, Kanaky ' s environmental confusion is compounded by the rise of independence, the social differences between the peoples of origin and the colonizers and the dependence and economic crisis caused by nickel extraction.