More than a month after deadly unrest broke out in New Caledonia, the overseas French territory is now preparing to go to an election, after President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly in Paris.
While the streets of the New Caledonian capital, Noumea, are calmer than when the unrest started on the 13th of May, a string of arrests of protest leaders has sparked fears the violence may return.
But the arrest of eight independence leaders in the capital sparked further unrest in the neighbourhood of Magenta. A voting bill introduced in Paris, aimed at expanding voting rights in the territory, was widely seen as the cause of the violence back in May. When President Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve France's National Assembly and hold legislatve elections at the end of the month, the union of pro-independence parties known as the FLNKS, called an extraordinary congress in the territory's northern province.
"Because you know we are Melanesian people. Sometimes Melanesian people take some time to discuss and consult all parts, in the church, in civic society, in youth groups, to continue to progress more work through the objective of the self-determination of New Caledonia."
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