France hopes to regain full control of events in New Caledonia "in the coming hours," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, after a third night of riots that have killed four people amid anger over a contested electoral reform.
Rioters have burnt businesses, torched cars and looted shops, and road barricades put up by protesters were causing a "dire situation" for access to medicine and food in the French-ruled Pacific island, authorities said.
France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia and went on to put at least 10 people under house arrest and ban TikTok.
Rioting erupted over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote.
Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France's role in the mineral-rich southwest Pacific island.
French President Emmanuel Macron's government has come under harsh criticism from the opposition and past prime ministers, who say they should not have pressed ahead with the reform.
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15 май 2024
