France has mobilised hundreds of police to regain control of the main road linking the airport to New Caledonia capital Noumea and restore order after days of unrest, the French minister of interior Gerald Darmanin said in a post on X late on Saturday.
\nMore than 600 police were mobilised to clear barricades placed by groups blocking the 60 kilometre (37-mile) road, he said, with 100 of the gendarmes being part of a special, heavily armed unit.
\nUnrest broke out earlier in the week in the French-ruled territory in the South Pacific, sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over a constitutional amendment approved by lawmakers in Paris. The territory has struggled since then to distribute food and medicine due to the road barricades, and the airport has been closed.
\nThe constitutional change would allow French people who have lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years to vote in provincial elections, which some local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote.
\nThe upheaval has led to the deaths of six people, and left cars and businesses burnt and shops looted. France declared a state of emergency on the island on Wednesday.
\nThe situation was calmer on Saturday, the French High Commissioner for the territory said in a statement on Sunday, adding there had been two fires and looting, and that 230 rioters had been arrested.
\nThe two main airlines serving New Caledonia have paused flights, leaving 3200 people stranded and waiting to leave or enter the island.
\n(Reuters)road barricades. unrest, police mobilization, road barricades<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
France mobilized over 600 police officers to clear barricades on the main road linking the airport to New Caledonia’s capital Noumea. The unrest was sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over a constitutional amendment that could dilute their vote in provincial elections. Six people have died, and the airport has been closed, leaving thousands stranded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6643,1414,1340,9319,1664,3348,1240,4739,3502,153,8962,6352,4382,499,3940,148,5349,185,783,10298,5330,6730,184,10502,214,470,10503,3862,6386,6928,7967,8563,1827,10041,1774,6305,18],"class_list":["post-12355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-airlines","tag-airport","tag-arrested","tag-barricades","tag-cars","tag-change","tag-clear","tag-constitutional-amendment","tag-deaths","tag-elections","tag-fires","tag-flights","tag-food","tag-france","tag-leaders","tag-local","tag-looting","tag-main","tag-medicine","tag-new-caledonia","tag-officers","tag-paris","tag-police","tag-police-mobilization","tag-police-officers","tag-road","tag-road-barricades","tag-shops","tag-situation","tag-six","tag-state","tag-state-of-emergency","tag-statement","tag-unrest","tag-vote","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n