New Caledonia protests: Macron urges calm as 130 arrested amid anger over voting change

Unrest flares as lawmakers in France support increasing the number of French nationals eligible to cast ballots in the territory’s elections

More than 130 people have been arrested in New Caledonia, the government said, after violent protests rocked the French Pacific archipelago and Paris adopted the constitutional changes that angered pro-independence forces.

Protests against the changes turned violent on Monday night, with shots fired at security forces, vehicles torched and shops looted in the worst unrest the French overseas territory has seen since the 1980s.