New Caledonia’s administrative tribunal on Thursday delivered a landmark ruling finding the French State responsible for not providing a “reasonable level of security” during the civil unrest that devastated the French Pacific territory in May 2024.
The ruling also implies that the French State’s “responsibility is engaged” in the matter brought to Court by insurance company Allianz for a total of 14 of its clients.
The claim was based on the failure by the respondent to “maintain public order during the riots”, specifically in the industrial zone and shopping mall complex “Kenu In (in the city of Dumbéa, near the capital Nouméa).
As a result of the ruling, the administrative tribunal ruled that the French State should pay the insurance company a fine of some 3,356,231,397 French Pacific Francs (CFP, the equivalent of €28 142 137,87(US$3,303,895,310.51) in compensation.
In explaining the ruling, the tribunal said when the destruction took place “between 15 and 17 May 2024”, “the (French) State committed a fault of a nature to engage its responsibility”.
The tribunal explained that the “fault” occurred while the State had received “sufficient prior notice” to put in place appropriate measures to ensure a reasonable level of security”.
The tribunal further states that prior “multiple”, “significant” and “converging” warnings, based on reliable intelligence had been sent in the weeks preceding the riots, regarding a “strong probability of an insurrection to come”, especially from the French High Commissioner at the time, Louis Le Franc, who had requested more law enforcement staff to be sent sent to New Caledonia.
It was recommending that a “sufficient number of security forces” should be sent “in appropriate time” to address the looming situation.
However, no action was taken, resulting in security and law enforcement staff present at the time being clearly outnumbered during the initial days of the unrest.
It took a significant amount of time for Paris-sent police and gendarmes reinforcements to reach New Caledonia, after the riots had already started.
Whereas the current level of staffing is now maintained at over 2500 staff (about twenty squadrons), the initial level, in May 2024, was only about 600.
French public broadcaster France Televisions exposed in April 2025 exchanges at the time between the French High Commission in New Caledonia and the French ministry of Home Affairs and Overseas territories.
In a context dominated by preparations and implementation of a high-level security plan to secure the 2024 Olympic Games in France, the priority was placed on maintaining the highest possible number of police and gendarmerie staff in mainland France for the Games.
In one of the email exchanges cited by France Televisions’ France 2, a response from the Ministry accused Louis Le Franc of being “too greedy” under the circumstances.
The riots began after a number of marches to protest a planned constitutional reform affecting the indigenous Kanak population. It degenerated into riots, starting on 13 May 2024 and resulting in 14 deaths, hundreds of injured, businesses and residences looted, burnt down and thousands of jobless, resulting in material damage estimated to some €2.2 billion(US$2.58 billion) and a drop of the local GDP by some 13.5 percent.
The “Kenu In” shopping zone (including a number of car dealerships) was one of the hardest hit.
Since the May 2024 riots, several insurance companies have decided to exclude the “riots” clause from their contracts in New Caledonia.
The French State has not indicated as yet whether it intended to appeal the ruling.
