State of emergency set for France's New Caledonia after deadly riots

Noumea: President Emmanuel Macron moved Wednesday to declare a state of emergency in France s Pacific territory of New Caledonia after a second night...

Noumea: President Emmanuel Macron moved Wednesday to declare a state of emergency in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia after a second night of rioting that left three dead and hundreds wounded, his office said.

Anger over constitutional reforms from Paris boiled over again after the lower house of parliament overnight backed a hotly-disputed voting reform that the representatives of the indigenous Kanak population say weighs against them.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea, and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, rioting continued overnight virtually unabated in the worst violence there since the 1980s

New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several French territories spanning the globe from the Caribbean and Indian Ocean to the Pacific that remain part of France in the post-colonial era.

Colonised by France from the second half of the nineteen century, it already has special status within France unlike other overseas territories.