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full screen Devastation in the city of Noumea in New Caledonia in connection with the violent riots. Photo: Delphine Mayeur/AFP/TT
Over 130 people have been arrested after the violent riots in New Caledonia, the island group’s French representative announced on Wednesday.
The protests broke out on Monday as France’s National Assembly plans to implement changes to voting procedures – which have angered separatists – and led to the worst violence New Caledonia has seen since the 1980s.
During the riot, vehicles and facilities were burned, and shops were looted.
Authorities responded by calling in security personnel, imposing curfews, banning public gatherings and closing the main airport.
Shortly after the French parliament passed the new voting laws early Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron called for calm, asking representatives to “unequivocally condemn all this violence.”
New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean is somewhere between an independent state and a French department. The island group – which with its around 270,000 inhabitants has been French territory since 1853 – has voted several times for independence, elections won by the No side.