New Caledonia: One dead as riots escalate after French vote

At least one person has been killed and hundreds injured in the Pacific territory of New Caledonia as riots continue in response to the French parliament giving French residents there more voting rights.

Protests over the issue first erupted into violence on Monday night with people reportedly torching cars, setting buildings alight and attacking police stations.

This is the worst unrest the territory has seen since the 1980s.

The island, located between Australia and Fiji, has been a French territory since the 19th century.

The violence started after lawmakers in Paris voted 351 to 153 to grant French citizens who have lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years the right to vote in provincial elections. They argued this was democratically fair.

However the change has angered many locals, who say it marginalises and reduces the vote of New Caledonia’s indigenous Kanak people.

The capital Noumea was rocked by violent protests on Monday night, which prompted French authorities on Tuesday to impose a night-time curfew and ban on public gatherings.

However the High Commission of the Republic in New Caledonia on Wednesday said the “serious disturbances” were continuing, and there had been an attempted prison break-out.

The French Interior Minister on Wednesday said that hundreds of people, including police officers, were injured in the unrest.

Following the vote, France’s President Emmanuel Macron had issued a letter to New Caledonian representatives calling for them to condemn the violence and to call for calm.

The main pro-independence party Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) has supported that call, called for protesters to cease their road blocks.

At least 130 people have been arrested so far since the unrest kicked off on Monday, local authorities said.

New Caledonia has a population of about 300,000 people, of which the indigenous Kanak people make up about 40%.