‘Not our president’: after Macron’s visit, New Caledonia’s Kanak demand their own future
Electoral reform was the spark for unrest, but Indigenous protesters say they are fighting to correct years of widening inequality
“I don’t know why our fate is being discussed by people who don’t even live here.”
The 52-year-old Indigenous Kanak – who gave his name as Mike – spoke from a roadblock just north of New Caledonia’s capital, in the hours before France’s president arrived in the Pacific territory that has been paralysed by violent protests.