Key PointsFrance declared a state of emergency after riots have resulted in four deaths and hundreds of injuries.The turmoil began after France’s national assembly supported controversial changes to voting rules.Indigenous Kanak leaders argue the changes will weaken their vote.
France ordered troops to guard ports and the international airport in its Pacific territory of New Caledonia as a state of emergency started Thursday after two nights of riots left four dead and hundreds wounded.
Turmoil erupted after France’s national assembly backed hotly-disputed changes to voting rolls that indigenous Kanak leaders say will dilute their vote.
The use of security forces and the ordering of a night-time curfew has failed to halt the worst violence seen in New Caledonia since the 1980s.
Cars were set alight, a supermarket was looted and shops vandalised in the capital of Noumea. Source: AFP / DELPHINE MAYEUR / AFP
Shops have been looted and public buildings torched during night-time violence. Hundreds of people including around 100 police and gendarmes have been injured, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
The presidency said three people, including a gendarme, had been killed.
New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several territories around the globe that remain part of France in the post-colonial era. Colonised by France from the second half of the nineteen century, it has special status unlike the country’s other overseas territories.
While it has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums, independence retains strong support among the indigenous Kanak people.
President Emmanuel Macron called for a resumption of political dialogue, the Elysee said.
New Caledonia’s indigenous Kanak leaders say changes will dilute their vote. Source: AFP / THEO ROUBY
But the government approved a state of emergency from Thursday morning local time, spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told a crisis ministerial meeting that troops had been deployed to secure ports and the international airport and the government representative in New Caledonia has “banned TikTok”.
The airport is already closed to international flights.
Attal said the situation in New Caledonia was now “grave” but that the government priority was to “restore calm” so that a dialogue could be established.
Under the state of emergency, authorities will be able to enforce travel bans, house arrests and searches, Thevenot added.
Sources said that two radical pro-independence activists had been put under house arrest.
Nearly 1,800 law enforcement officers have been mobilised and a further 500 will reinforce them, she added.
Macron cancelled a planned trip to Normandy to chair a new emergency meeting on Thursday, the presidency said.