The Foreign Ministers of Australia and New Zealand said that from Tuesday the evacuations by air of tourists stranded in New Caledonia due to the closure of the only airport due to the protests that have been ongoing for a week in the French territory in Oceania will begin. Authorization from the French government was required to organize the flights. The evacuations will affect both Australian and New Zealand tourists and those of other nationalities: it is estimated that there are around three thousand foreign tourists in total on the island.
For about a week, large protests have been underway in New Caledonia which have so far caused five deaths (including two policemen), dozens of injuries, hundreds of arrests and many arson attacks on companies and shops. The protests began over the modification of an electoral law proposed by the French government, which according to some of the indigenous Kanak people (who make up 40 percent of the 270 thousand inhabitants) would dilute their electoral weight. An independence movement calling for the separation of France has been active on the island for decades: from 2018 to 2021, three referendums on independence were actually held, all won by those who wanted to remain in France.
Many tourists remained barricaded in hotels: Maxwell Winchester, from Australia, told the French news agency AFP that “we had to sleep with one eye open” for fear of looting. New Caledonia’s airport is located about 60 kilometers from the capital Nouméa: the police said they had dismantled 76 checkpoints created by protesters on the road between the city and the airport. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the first evacuation flight would bring the 50 tourists “with the most urgent needs” to New Zealand.
– Read also: What’s happening in New Caledonia, from the beginning
