Pro-independence leader calls on protesters in New Caledonia to ‘maintain resistance’ against France

NICE, France (AP) — The leader of a pro-independence party in New Caledonia on Saturday called on supporters to “remain mobilized” across the French Pacific archipelago and “maintain resistance” against the Paris government’s efforts to impose electoral reforms that the Indigenous Kanak people fear would further marginalize them.

Christian Tein, the leader of the pro-independence party known as The Field Acton Coordination Unit, addressed supporters and protesters in a video message. It was posted on social media two days after he and other pro-independence leaders met with French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the territory following unrest that left seven dead and a trail of destruction.

Macron repeatedly pushed for the removal of protesters’ barricades with leaders on both sides of New Caledonia’s bitter divide — Indigenous Kanaks, who want independence, and the pro-Paris leaders, who do not.

The French president told them that the state of emergency imposed by Paris for at least 12 days on May 15 to boost police powers could only be lifted if local leaders call for a clearing away of barricades that demonstrators and people trying to protect their neighborhoods erected in the capital, Nouméa, and beyond.

In the video message, Tein called on protesters to “slightly loosen the grip” on their barricades in Nouméa, its suburbs and along the archipelago’s main roads in order to transport fuel, food, medicine and facilitate access to health care for the inhabitants of the islands in the North and South.

But, Tein insisted the barricades will remain in place until French authorities lift house arrest warrants for several of his party members and Macron’s government scraps the electoral reform that Kanaks