Three vans and two pick-ups bearing the acronym of the national gendarmerie are parked at the intersection of a street and provincial road 1, which links Nouméa to the south of Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. The soldiers greet their colleagues who are aboard a Centaur, an imposing armored vehicle. Two years after riots which left fourteen dead, the 14.5 ton machine symbolizes the visibility of the presence of law enforcement in the territory, a device recently reinforced to secure the provincial elections organized on Sunday June 28.
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