France detains 8 in New Caledonia including independence leader

NOUMEA

French police detained eight people in Pacific territory New Caledonia on Wednesday, prosecutors said, including one of the leaders of the pro-independence CCAT movement that organized weeks of sometimes deadly unrest last month.

CCAT chief Christian Tein was the only detainee named by Yves Dupas, chief prosecutor in New Caledonia's capital Noumea, as being detained for "organized crime" offenses, under which they can be held for up to 96 hours.

Violence erupted in New Caledonia, around 1,300 kilometers northeast of Australia, on May 13 over French plans to update the electoral roll to include people with more than 10 years' residency.

Indigenous Kanak people feared that the move would leave them in a permanent minority in the territory and put independence definitively out of reach.

Nine people including two police officers have been killed, hundreds wounded, and around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of damage inflicted.

France responded by sending more than 3,000 troops and police to New Caledonia, almost 17,000 kilometers from Paris.

Police yesterday surrounded the headquarters of the pro-independence Caledonian Union (UC) party in Noumea, which also hosts CCAT's offices.

UC denounced the "abusive" arrests in a statement, charging that "local anti-independence leaders and criminal militiamen are able to swagger about in total freedom."