Court proceedings begin against suspected ringleader of New Caledonia riots

RFI

22 June 2024 at 1:30 pm·1-min read

A leader of the independence movement in French Pacific territory New Caledonia was charged Saturday after being arrested earlier this week, following weeks of deadly riots last month.

The authorities did not immediately say what crimes Christian Tein – head of the CCAT pro-independence group – was charged with at his interview with an investigating magistrate in the courthouse in the New Caledonian capital Nouméa.

His half-hour hearing at the judges' office was the first among a group of 11 arrested on Wednesday over the recent violence, in which nine people including two police officers died.

Police arrest pro-independence leader in New Caledonia riot probe

Hundreds more were wounded, and around €1.5 billion of damage was inflicted during the riots.

The remainder of the group were set to be charged later Saturday, including CCAT communications chief Brenda Wanabo, who is also in custody

According to Thomas Gruet, a lawyer for Wanabo: "My client never imagined she would find herself here. She's extremely shocked, in her eyes she's just an activist".

'Mafia-style' allegations

Riots, street barricades and looting broke out in New Caledonia in mid-May over an electoral reform plan that indigenous Kanak people feared would leave them in a permanent minority, putting independence hopes definitively out of reach.

The Telegraph
Labour will put your taxes up in four simple steps – and they’ve already told us how
Labour keeps nobly insisting that it won’t raise taxes for “working people”. Call me a pessimist, but I can’t help feeling this is a promise that won’t be kept.
HuffPost
Biden Campaign Has Just 3 Words After Trump Seems To Leak Debate Talking Points
The former president's post marked a change from his previous remarks about climate change.
The Telegraph
Let’s be clear where blame for this Tory disaster really lies
‘Good-morning, good-morning!’ the General said When we met him last week on our way to the line ... “He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
The Telegraph
Armageddon is upon us, and Britain will never be the same again
Make the most of living in Conservative Britain: Armageddon is upon us. In a little over a week, the Tory government – that last, oh-so-imperfect, infuriatingly porous roadblock to Left-wing hegemony – will have been obliterated. The removal vans, symbols of regime change, will be on their way. Parliament, the last major institution in Britain still nominally controlled by the centre-Right, will have fallen, in a wipeout without precedent.
The Telegraph
Who won the BBC general election TV debate? Our writers give their verdicts
How did Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer – the two men who could be prime minister at the end of next week – fare in their final face-to-face clash of the campaign? Our commentators Tim Stanley and Tom Harris give their verdicts.
HuffPost
Marjorie Taylor Greene Melts Down Over Australian TV’s Trump Question, Gets Cut Off
“What is this?” fumed the far-right Georgia Republican, who suggested the anchor was getting her “marching orders from the Democrat Party.”
Manchester Evening News
'Outrage' at Reform UK candidate's Falklands War comments
John Kelly is standing to become Hazel Grove's MP
Evening Standard
Anger over Keir Starmer's Bangladesh remarks as councillor quits and Labour MP candidates issue statements
Sir Keir Starmer says he didn’t mean to ‘cause any concern or offence’
HuffPost
Newsmax Slaps Very Awkward Note On Screen During Donald Trump Interview
Critics on social media suggested the chyron meant one thing.
The Independent
‘Are you two really the best we’ve got?’: Election summed up with excruciating question to Sunak and Starmer
Both leaders sheepish as audience loudly applauded question
Evening Standard
OPINION - Keir Starmer crossed a big line when he called Rishi Sunak a liar — he shouldn't have done it
Now, the issue here isn’t the truthfulness or accuracy of Rishi Sunak’s claims about Labour’s tax plans: I quite accept that those claims are, to put it mildly, debatable. There were a hundred circumlocutions you could use: if Sir Keir had spluttered, “that’s not true!” it would have meant exactly the same thing, but would have been entirely unproblematic. Once, scrupulous people would use the word “untruth” in denying the veracity of a statement and this too would lack the terrible force of the word “lie”, which implies a deliberate intention to deceive.
Reuters
Russia mulling downgrading ties with West, Kremlin says
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia is considering a possible downgrading of relations with the West due to the deeper involvement of the United States and its allies in the Ukraine war, but no decision had yet been taken, the Kremlin said on Thursday. A downgrading of relations - or even breaking them off - would illustrate the gravity of the confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine after an escalation in tensions over the war in recent months.
The Telegraph
Why the French state pension is about to bring down Macron
Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reforms have loomed over his second presidential term – and could now be his undoing.
Manchester Evening News
Martin Lewis furious with Conservatives over campaign advert as he cries 'no where'
Martin Lewis had to correct the record after the Conservative Party used him in an attack ad
HuffPost
Ex-Trump White House Attorney Burns Docs Judge With What 'Seems To Be Her New Last Name'
CNN's Erin Burnett laughed at Ty Cobb's suggestion.
The Guardian
Labour ‘not putting up a fight’ against Farage in Clacton
Labour officials said to be upset that Jovan Owusu-Nepaul was gaining traction for viral social media posts
The Telegraph
Iran is preparing to open a new front in its war against Israel
If, as the polls indicate, Labour will form our new government next week, it is likely that one of its first challenges will be how to respond to the eruption of full-scale hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Telegraph
Iran’s only moderate presidential candidate takes surprise poll lead
Iran’s only moderate candidate for president is leading in the latest polls, prompting panic among hardliners.
Sky video
Post Office Horizon expert admits seeing legal advice on trial obligations and defends Fujitsu's remote access
A key figure behind the flawed IT system that led to hundreds of sub-postmasters being wrongly jailed has told the Post Office inquiry he had "not remembered" legal advice he was given about his obligations as an expert witness.
CNN
Biden administration moves toward allowing American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine
The Biden administration is moving towards lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN, to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems.

'Mafia-style' allegations

Latest stories