Three people have been killed as violent protests and looting rock New Caledonia, according to an official of the French Pacific territory.
Three people have been killed after violence erupted this week in protest against plans to allow more people to take part in local elections.The French National Assembly adopted the constitutional reform late on Tuesday, but it would still have to pass a second round to become law.
French officials said one person had been found shot dead in an industrial zone, with High Commissioner Louis le Franc saying the shot did not come from police but "from someone who probably was defending himself". More than 140 people have been arrested, according to the French high commission of the republic in New Caledonia."The French government, they are very specialised. They have the means, they have guns, they have the cars."
Noumea was covered by a cloud of black smoke and a local sports facility had been set ablaze, according to local television. "Every reason for discontent, frustration and anger could not justify undermining or destroying what the country has been able to build for decades and mortgaging the future," it said."Violence is never a solution," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told reporters during a trip to eastern France.He later told parliament: "What matters is defusing tensions. What matters is dialogue. What matters is the construction of a common, political, global solution.
But he added: "The unrest of the last 24 hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France take control of them."At a rally in Paris, pro-independence protesters said the bill should be withdrawn.
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