The Australian Prime Minister stated that the air force “is ready to take off”, but the situation there prevents flights, suspended since last Tuesday.
The Australian Prime Minister said this Monday that the situation in New Caledonia was “really worrying”, at a time when Australia is trying to expel its citizens from the French overseas territory, after a week of unrest.
The French authorities have been providing us with regular updates. The situation is really worrying“Anthony Albanese told ABC Australian television.
The head of Government stated that Canberra has identified 300 Australians who have shown their willingness to leave New Caledonia, where all flights have been suspended since Tuesday.
Over the weekend, Australia and New Zealand requested authorization from the archipelago authorities to land planes to repatriate their citizens.
Without a doubt, the Australian Air Force is ready to take off (…). The situation in the place prevents flights For now, but we are still asking for authorization,” Albanese added.
Two Australian tourists, Maxwell and Tiffany Winchester, told the news agency. french press who had been held since Tuesday, the day they were due to leave New Caledonia, in a hotel complex halfway between the capital, Nouméa, and the airport.
“We’re about to run out of food,” Maxwell Winchester said, and “the hotel staff is turn to the black market to achieve something.”
New Caledonia. Violent protests force Australian tourists stranded in resorts to ration food
He described blocked roadspreventing supplies, and nights disturbed by fires and the sound of clashes.
New Caledonia has been the scene of riots that left five dead, following the presentation of a new bill adopted in Paris, which determines that French residents who have lived in the archipelago for ten years are authorized to vote in local elections.
Unrest in New Caledonia prompts French president to declare state of emergency
Local political leaders, including independence advocates, fear the new measure will weaken New Caledonia’s forces.
The representative of the French State in New Caledonia, Louis Le Franc, welcomed this Monday the success of an operation to regain control of a road that connects the capital of the overseas territory with the airport.
“This operation is a success with 76 blockades neutralized thanks to the mobilization of internal security forces, private companies and material resources mobilized on the ground,” he explained.
Le Franc said “almost 240 protesters” had been detained since the violence began.
French authorities had announced on Saturday night the sending of 600 additional security personnel to New Caledonia, which would join the more than 2,700 already present in the Pacific archipelago.
France sends 600 more security forces to New Caledonia
Le Franc admitted that this morning she was again “marked by a big fire and looting actions”, without revealing more details.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called a new meeting of the National Defense and Security Council for this Monday, at 6:30 p.m., in Paris (5:30 p.m. in Lisbon).
Source: Observadora
