The Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste (FLNKS) held a rally in Nouméa on October 31, 2025, to protest the Bougival agreement ahead of the new overseas minister's arrival. Only 220 people attended, far from the massive 2024 mobilizations. The movement hopes to move past this agreement, whose name was removed from a parliamentary text on postponing provincial elections.
Independentist flags waved again in front of the Haut-Commissariat de la République in Nouméa on Friday, October 31, 2025, under a scorching sun and to the tune of Makukuti, the anthem of Kanak youth during the 2024 uprising. This rally, called by the FLNKS ahead of the new overseas minister's arrival, drew only 220 participants, compared to tens of thousands in the 2024 protests against the electoral freeze.
"Things are slowly falling into place, hopes Hervé Tein-Taouva, general commissioner of the Union calédonienne, the main component of the FLNKS. We are already planning another rally mid-November if the State continues to push through by force." The independentist movement, vilified for withdrawing its signature from the Bougival agreement project signed on July 12, found an unexpected ally in Manuel Valls. In an audition before the National Assembly's overseas delegation on October 21, the former minister acknowledged that Bougival was merely a project and that the independentist delegation lacked a mandate for a definitive agreement.
The FLNKS hopes to turn the page on this accord, whose name was omitted from the parliamentary text on postponing provincial elections. This modest mobilization highlights ongoing tensions in New Caledonia, despite reduced turnout.