The local government in New Caledonia has called for calm after violence broke out during protests to changes to the constitution being debated in the French National Assembly, which are denounced by supporters of independence for the overseas territory in the Pacific.
"All the reasons discontent, frustration and anger could not justify hurting or destroying what the country has been able to build for decades and compromising the future," the local government said in a statement Tuesday, after protests turned violent on Monday.
Violence broke out on the edge of a demonstration organised Monday by pro-independence supporters against changes to the constitution that would allow more French residents to vote in elections in New Caledonia, which independence supporters fear will dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak.
New Caledonia President Louis Mapou was elected in 2021 as the first pro-independence indigenous Kanak leader.
Property destroyed, curfew
Several police officers were injured during clashes with protesters, the French High Commission said Tuesday, announcing a curfew in the capital, Noumea, on Tuesday night.
Buildings and businesses in Noumea and the surrounding areas were damaged and cars set on fire. Firefighters said they received nearly 1,500 calls Monday night and intervened in 200.
The French High Commission said all gatherings had been banned and a ban on liquor sales was in place, with a 12-hour curfew imposed from 6pm local time on Tuesday.
The local government has closed middle and high schools, and all commercial flights have been cancelled, the airport operator said in a statement on Tuesday.
Changing the constitution
Elections for New Caledonia's assemblies and congress, which were due this month, have been delayed until the end of the year.
A vote on the constitutional changes was due at the National Assembly Tuesday afternoon, but may be pushed back, after debates Monday night were unable to conclude because of a large number of amendments introduced by the hard-left France Unbowed party.
The constitutional changes must pass in the National Assembly, after they were approved in the Senate, before being sent to a joint session of both houses to revise the constitution at a date that has not yet been set.
(with newswires)
