France deploys troops, bans TikTok to quell deadly New Caledonia unrest
France deployed troops to New Caledonia's ports and international airport, banned TikTok and imposed a state of emergency Thursday after three nights of clashes that have left four dead and hundreds wounded.
Pro-independence, largely Indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s, with a police officer among several killed by gunfire.
On major thoroughfares, the torched detritus amassed over four days of unrest was scattered amid fist-size hunks of rock and cement that appeared to have been flung during riots.
Armoured vehicles roved the city's palm-lined boulevards, usually thronged with tourists.
Fearful locals set up make-shift roadblocks - piling wooden pallets, wheelbarrows, bedframes, plastic jerricans, tree fronds and scraps of fencing across the streets.
As part of a sweeping French response, security forces placed five suspected ringleaders under house arrest, according to a statement by the high commission, which represents the French state in New Caledonia.
House searches will be carried out "in the coming hours", it said.
More than 200 "rioters" have been arrested since the clashes broke out, the high commission said.
Hundreds of people, including 64 police, have been wounded, officials said.
TikTok had been banned because it was being used by rioters, he said.
Read more on RFI English
Read also:
France declares state of emergency in New Caledonia after deadly riots
Curfew imposed in New Caledonia after violent protests against constitutional reform
Pro- and anti-independence demos in New Caledonia split French island group
