French forces to remain on New Caledonia after riots

Police reinforcements in New Caledonia will stay as long as needed, president Emmanuel Macron has said after viewing areas devastated by deadly riots triggered by contested electoral reform in the French-ruled Pacific island.

- KIRSTY NEEDHAM

Describing the riots as “an unprecedented insurrection whose degree of violence no one would have anticipated”, Mr Macron said additional security totalling 3,000 personnel would remain, even during this summer’s Paris Olympics if required.

Mr Macron’s hastily arranged visit comes after six people were killed in riots that have left a trail of looted shops, torched cars and businesses since they began more than a week ago. “In the coming hours and days, massive new operations will be scheduled where necessary, and republican order in its entirety will be re-established because there is no other choice,” Macron said during a meeting with political and business leaders in the territory’s capital Noumea.

Roads across the island remained blocked by protester barricades, and residents shared advice on social media on safe routes to find food, petrol and medicine. Mr Macron had flown by helicopter over areas wrecked by arson, as bulldozers worked to clear away rubble. Mayors from these worst-hit suburbs joined Macron’s meeting at France’s High Commission, along with pro-French and pro-independence leaders.