New Caledonia: France sends armed forces to tackle riots

France hopes to regain full control of events in New Caledonia “in the coming hours,“ Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, after a third night of riots that have killed four people amid anger over a contested electoral reform. Rioters have burnt businesses, torched cars and looted shops, and road barricades put up by protesters were causing a “dire situation“ for access to medicine and food in the French-ruled Pacific island, authorities said. France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia and went on to put at least 10 people under house arrest and ban TikTok. Rioting erupted over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote. Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France’s role in the mineral-rich southwest Pacific island. Fre