STORY: :: Evacuations are underway in New Caledonia after over a week of riots and unrest
:: Noumea, New Caledonia
:: May 25, 2024
Police shot dead a man in the French-ruled Pacific island on Friday evening (May 24), a day after President Emmanuel Macron visited to try to calm tensions, local media said, citing the local prosecutor's office.
The police officer used his gun as he and a colleague were attacked by a group of around 15 people before the shot was fired, NC La 1ere broadcaster quoted the prosecutor as saying. An investigation was ongoing.
The death of the 48-year-old man, which other local media also reported, brought to seven the number killed in 12 days of upheaval triggered by a contested electoral reform and fuelled by sharp economic disparities between the indigenous Kanak population and people of European background.
