MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

French Overseas Territory under curfew following changes in Paris to voting bill

“Soldiers from the armed forces have been deployed to secure the New Caledonia ports and the airport,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced in Paris.

France declared a 12-day state of emergency in the Overseas Territory of New Caledonia, following riots and arson that left at least four people killed. The trigger of the violence came after the French assembly in Paris passed a contentious voting bill, according to New Caledonia High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, who said that “a curfew and a ban on TikTok” were now in force.

“Soldiers from the armed forces have been deployed to secure the New Caledonia ports and the airport,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced in Paris. Le Franc said Attal had requested the troops.

President Emmanuel Macron, who canceled a planned trip to Normandy on Wednesday to respond to the unrest, asked his Cabinet in a meeting later in the day to declare a state of emergency, the Elysee Palace said.

Speaking for the Cabinet, Deputy Minister for Democratic Renewal Prisca Thevenot announced the decision on Wednesday afternoon in Paris. Thevenot described “scenes of chaos” in the territory.

Some 500 additional police officers have also been dispatched to assist the 1,800 already on site. They are expected to arrive within the next few hours, authorities said.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday that a French gendarmerie police officer had died from wounds sustained earlier in the clashes.

The three killed were young indigenous Kanak people, a spokesperson for New Caledonia's President Louis Mapou said based on police information. Darmanin on Wednesday said “hundreds” of people, including police, were hurt in the latest unrest.

On Wednesday, gunshots were heard in the morning despite a curfew. Meanwhile, schools in the capital, Noumea, remained shut.

The region was a powder keg this week, ahead of a French National Assembly vote on changes to the New Caledonian constitution, which would enable more migrants on the island — in many cases from France — to vote.

Riots erupted after the National Assembly approved the changes to voting rules on Tuesday, local media reported. Lawmakers in Paris voted 351 to 153 in favor of a new bill allowing French residents who have lived in the French territory for 10 years to vote in provincial elections.

Supporters of New Caledonia's independence fear the bill will dilute the vote of the indigenous Kanak people, favoring the contracted officials and bureaucracy sent from France .