Australia has heightened travel warnings for New Caledonia as civil unrest forced the declaration of a state of emergency in the French territory. France ordered troops to guard ports and the international airport in its Pacific territory of New Caledonia after the state of emergency began on Thursday following two nights of riots that left four dead and hundreds wounded.
Hundreds of people including around 100 police and soldiers have been injured, French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said. New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several territories around the globe that remain part of France in the post-colonial era. Colonised by France from the second half of the nineteenth century, it has a special status, unlike its other overseas territories.