Noumea
French police on Wednesday arrested eight people in the Pacific territory of New Caledonia, the prosecutor's office said, including one of the leaders of the pro-independence CCAT movement that organized weeks of sometimes deadly riots last month.
Yves Dupas, the chief prosecutor in Noumea, New Caledonia's capital, named CCAT chief Christian Thein as the only detainee being held on “organized crime” charges, which can mean detainees can be held for up to 96 hours.
Riots broke out on May 13 in New Caledonia, about 1,300 kilometers northeast of Australia, over France's plan to add people who have lived there for more than 10 years to the electoral roll.
The indigenous Kanak people feared the move would make them a permanent minority in the territory and ensure that independence would be impossible.
Nine people were killed, including two police officers, hundreds were injured, and damages estimated at about 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) were caused.
France responded by sending more than 3,000 troops and police to New Caledonia, about 10,000 miles from Paris.
Police yesterday surrounded the headquarters of the pro-independence Caledonian Union (UC) party in Noumea, which also houses the CCAT offices.
In a statement, the University of California condemned the “unjust” arrests, saying they “allow local anti-independence leaders and criminal militias to roam completely free.”
