NOUMEA
1. TRAVEL SHOT Police roadblock, military trucks on road. 0.07
2. GV ZOOM IN Car overturned and burning on roadside. 0.12
3. GVs Security forces at roadblock, riot police and armoured cars. (3 SHOTS) 0.19
4. CUs Policeman firing tear gas, canister landing among demonstrators. (2 SHOTS) 0.23
5. GVs Mountainside, local citizen standing with arms upraised (2 SHOTS) 0.27
6. GV Riot police leaving, entering truck. 0.31
7. GVs Roadblock, Kanak demonstrators on other side. (3 SHOTS) 0.37
8. GVs Armed police at ready, French officer ordering troops away. (2 SHOTS) 0.45
9. SVs Riot police advancing, demonstrators retreating. (2 SHOTS) 0.51
10. SVs Tear gas exploding among villagers, riot police running. (3 SHOTS) 1.00
11. SV Riot police moving alongside armoured vehicle. 1.06
12. GVs Wrecked buildings, shops boarded up. (3 SHOTS) 1.14
13. GVs Street scenes with vehicles. (2 SHOTS) 1.17
14. GVs Riot police, trucks moving out, villagers walking along road. (4 SHOTS) 1.31
InitialsJMS/JRS

NOTE TO EDITORS: THIS STORY HAS COMMENTARY BY CHANNEL 10 REPORTER JOHN WISEMAN, WHICH MAY BE USED IF REQUIRED.
Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: NOUMEA & NEAR NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA

Following national elections in the French-ruled Pacific territory of New Caledonia on November 18, militant members of the Kanak National Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS), campaigning for immediate independence, have clashed with security forces in and around the capital, Noumea. On November 21, dozens of heavily armed riot police confronted a number of Kanak villagers outside Noumea, erecting road blocks and lobbing stones at the troops. The internal situation became explosive after polling produced a landslide victory for hardline factions advocating continued dependence upon France. Large numbers of Kanaks, who comprise some 43 per cent of the region's 145,000 population, abstained from voting. Military Melanesians set several public buildings alight, overturning civilian vehicles and burning at least one local official's car in the latest outburst of violence. The region's eighty thousand voters elected a 42-member state assembly as part of a programme of planned detachment from France, which has governed the territory for the past 121 years. The November 21 rioting was sparked off by police attempts to quell a series of sporadic incidents, including attacks on anti-FLNKS shopkeepers in Noumea itself. Security units fired tear gas canisters at the crowd, which retaliated by throwing rocks, injuring some policemen. The militant Kanaks have been stretching police resources by employing hit-and-run tactics, seemingly vanishing into the mountain areas around Noumea whenever security forces appear. Authorities fear that the Kanaks intention to establish a provisional government of their own on December 1 could ignite further violence between the islanders and the police.

Source: CHANNEL 10 SYDNEY