French Pacific colony violently rebels; France sends in spec-ops

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Security forces in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia have begun a major operation to take back control of infrastructure across the Pacific Ocean archipelago from pro-independence demonstrators.

Overnight Saturday, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that 600 gendarmes, including a hundred officers from Paris’ elite counterterrorism special forces, had arrived in the state to “restore the order of the Republic.”

According to Darmanin, the operation’s primary objective is to regain a 60-kilometer highway that links the capital of Nouméa to the nearby airport, allowing supplies to be flown in. Burnt wreckage has been used by protesters to block the key road, with the island’s high commissioner reporting that at least two fires had been started and a gas station had been raided. Flights to and from the territory have been halted since Tuesday, leaving an estimated 3,200 people stranded according to authorities.

A convoy of armored vehicles and heavy construction machinery was despatched from the capital, with AFP reporting that activists were still manning makeshift roadblocks at midday Sunday local time. At least 230 people have been detained, and Louis Le Franc, the high commissioner of New Caledonia, has since said the road is under government control.

A state of emergency has been declared in New Caledonia since Wednesday, after major clashes between demonstrators and police that have now claimed six lives. Shops, cars and government buildings have been torched in the unrest, which was ignited after French MPs voted through constitutional changes that would allow all residents of the archipelago to vote in local elections. Many of the island’s indigenous Kanak people fear the move will marginalize their voices and undermine efforts to gain independence from Paris.

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