Police in New Caledonia detained eight people on Wednesday on suspicion of organising riots in the archipelago, French media reported.
New Caledonia police arrested protest leader Christian Tein at the headquarters of the largest pro-independence political party, the Caledonian Union, as he prepared to hold a news conference, the party said in a statement.
Local media reported the arrest of eight people, including Tein, in a police operation on Wednesday morning that forced many businesses, shops and Nouméa town hall to close for fear of further unrest.
Nine people were killed, including two police officers, in violent protests that engulfed New Caledonia last month. The protests erupted after lawmakers in Paris voted in favour of a bill allowing French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections as part of constitutional reform.
Indigenous Kanaks fear it will dilute their vote and make any future independence referendum more difficult, while Paris says the measure is necessary to improve democracy.
Damages from the riots in New Caledonia totalled 200 million euros ($216.5 million). The head of New Caledonia’s southern province, Sonia Backes, added that protesters burned or looted more than a hundred shops and public buildings during the unrest.
Tein heads a branch of the Caledonian Union called the Coordination Cell of Field Action (CCAT), which organised the protest barricades in the capital Nouméa, disrupting traffic and food supplies. He was among the pro-independence politicians who met French President Emmanuel Macron during his lightning visit to New Caledonia last month.
Calls not to respond to provocation
In a statement, Caledonian Union President Daniel Goa called on the CCAT protesters to be calm and asked the youth not to react to the “provocation” as he put it.
France’s High Commission said in a statement that the city centre was “free and safe” and media reported that many cars were leaving.
Macron said last week that he had suspended the voting reform, but independence supporters want it cancelled completely before resuming dialogue on the island’s political future, saying they would otherwise be unable to persuade young protesters to leave the barricades.
