Last week, riots erupted in New Caledonia as France’s National Assembly debated a constitutional amendment aimed at enlarging electoral lists on the archipelago. The amendment proposal led to vast movements of protest in Noumea and further division within the population. On the day of the vote, it degenerated into violence. Shops, businesses and public infrastructure were damaged or destroyed and cars burned. Several people – six at the time of writing – were killed and many more wounded. France announced a state of emergency and dispatched extra security forces to New Caledonia, where operations to re-establish law and order are still going on.
