After days of serious unrest in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, the situation appeared to be easing slightly on Sunday.
Several hundred police officers cleared the road from the capital Nouméa to the international airport of the archipelago in the South Pacific on Sunday, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on the social media platform X.
Independence supporters had set up over 70 roadblocks in New Caledonia in the past few days, for example with burnt-out car wrecks.
Several grocery shops have also been able to reopen, according to Darmanin. However, the road is currently not passable as normal and it could be some time before the airport reopens. Schools will remain closed until next Friday, he added.
Order will be restored "whatever the cost," French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said at a press conference. "I would like to say to the rioters: Stop, return to calm, hand in your weapons." The previous night had already been calmer, he said.
Six people have been killed so far in the riots on the island 1,500 kilometres east of Australia and over 200 people have been detained.
The background to the protests by those in favour of independence for the archipelago is a planned constitutional reform by the government in Paris, which is intended to give thousands of citizens of French descent the right to vote and therefore more political influence.
However, the Kanak population group in particular - New Caledonia's Indigenous inhabitants - have long hoped for their own state. The national council of the Kanaks accused Paris of pushing ahead with the controversial reform without taking into account the resistance of the vast majority of the Indigenous population.
The former French colony had already gained extensive autonomy through the Nouméa Agreement of 1998. Paris is currently trying to conclude a new agreement with the political forces in the geopolitically and militarily significant territory.
