New Caledonia residents vote in European elections after riots

Residents of New Caledonia voted Sunday in European elections under heavy security after authorities in the French Pacific territory managed to quell the worst unrest in decades.

New Caledonia, which is located between Australia and Fiji, has been ruled from Paris since the 19th century but many indigenous Kanaks want greater autonomy or independence.

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According to the High Commission, which represents the French state, 92 percent of polling stations have opened for the polls.

Most of the troubled archipelago’s 270,000 residents are eligible to take part in European elections, but voter turnout is traditionally low.

Residents of the district of Magenta in the capital Noumea queued outside a polling station as policemen watched on, an AFP photographer saw.

But many in Noumea, where roadblocks continued to disrupt traffic, were expected to stay away.

The European elections “aren’t the main concern here, we’re not involved,” one pro-independence local, Gaetan Kohueinui, said at a barricade.

Riots broke out on May 13 after anger over voting reform spilled into weeks of protests that claimed the lives of seven people and left hundreds more injured.

The death toll from the violence rose to eight after an indigenous Kanak man, who was shot and wounded by gendarmes, died of his wounds on Friday, local prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday.

French authorities insist Noumea is back under their control, although barricades remain and pro-independence demonstrators are determined to stay in the streets.

On Sunday, voters across Europe cast their ballots on the final and biggest day of elections for the EU’s parliament, with far-right parties expected to make gains at a pivotal time for the bloc.

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