France is to send police reinforcements to New Caledonia in a bid to quell unrest which has affected parts of the territory since the beginning of last week.
About 30 police have been injured in the past week as they battled unionists setting up blockades as part of a campaign to free their jailed leader.
Walter Zweifel reports.
"Tension in New Caledonia has risen as the skirmishes around the industrial zone of Noumea have this week spread to Kone, Poindimie and Houialou in the north and now also to St Louis in the south of the capital. Police routinely use tear gas to chase away those setting up blockades of offices, businesses and administration buildings, but the security forces suffer attacks with rocks and ball bearings. The French high commission has said it won't give in to the troublemakers, while a senior Kanak politician, Roch Wamytan, says the French state has to change its stance as it only leads to guerrilla-like warfare. A prominent anti-independence politician, Pierre Frogier, has told television in Noumea that for the New Caledonia's economy the union is an abscess. The conflict at the heart of the strike and violence stems from an employment matter at the domestic airline."
