Six people, including a minor, were arrested in New Caledonia after recent atrocities against the Brazilian Vale nickel plant, the resumption of which is controversial, the Noumea public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday (January 5th).
To read also: New Caledonia: the deputies for "a temporary nationalization" of the Vale factory
These arrests took place within the framework of "
a flagrant investigation following multiple attacks on the physical integrity of the police ensuring the security of the premises as well as deliberate destruction
" committed between January 1 and 4, said prosecutor Yves Dupas in a press release.
He specified that these facts came under "
a structured organization
" and that on the spot the investigators had inter alia seized "
5 Molotov cocktails, a bag of nails of 25 centimeters, an ax, 5 slingshots, 4 knives and 3 hammers.
".
On December 23, a 37-year-old man was sentenced to 10 months in prison for having shot, without injuring them, at gendarmes securing this industrial site, in the south of the archipelago.
For several weeks, it has been the permanent target of fires, destruction and intrusions committed by opponents of its takeover by a Caledonian and international consortium, which includes the Swiss commodities trader, Trafigura.
They are united within the collective “
southern factory: country factory
” and the Indigenous Customary Negotiating Body (ICAN), with the support of the FLNKS separatists, who however condemn the violence.
The plant, classified Seveso 2, has been shut down since December 10 after being stormed by rioters in trucks.
It has since been under the surveillance of the police and only 400 of the 1,250 employees are on site to provide maintenance.
"
The maneuvers of intimidation and insults from the outside continue daily towards the employees
", also indicated in a statement the management of Vale-NC while new sabotage took place in the night of Monday to Tuesday.
“
The Loyalists
”, a majority non-independence coalition, “
strongly condemned these actions and asked the State to maintain the necessary personnel in order to restore order
”.
At the end of December, following the example of the center-right party Calédonie Ensemble, the FLNKS asked the State "
to temporarily take control
" of the factory, backed by the rich Goro deposit, "in
order to give time to find a consensus
”.
This option would have been ruled out by the state but exchanges with the Minister of Overseas Territories, Sébastien Lecornu, should continue this week.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
