Macron pushed for the removal of protesters' barricades and said police sent in to help battle unrest "will stay as long as necessary".
On a visit to the riot-hit French Pacific territory on Thursday, he said he wanted to leave time for local leaders to come up with an alternate agreement for the archipelago's future.
Earlier in the day, Macron pushed for the removal of protesters' barricades and said police sent in to help battle unrest “will stay as long as necessary", even as security services back in France focus in coming weeks on safeguarding the Paris Olympics. Pro-independence Kanak leaders, who a week earlier declined Macron's offer of talks by video, joined a meeting the French leader hosted with rival pro-Paris leaders who want New Caledonia, which became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, to remain part of France.
“Everyone has a responsibility to really call for the lifting of the barricades, the cessation of all forms of attack, not simply for calm," he said. It was late on Tuesday in Paris when he left on the 16,000-kilometre trip but, because of the distance and time difference, it was Thursday morning in New Caledonia when he arrived with his interior and defence ministers.
Later, at Nouméa's central police station, Macron thanked officers for facing what he described as “an absolutely unprecedented insurrection movement".“You did your duty. And I thank you.”
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