PARIS, France (AFP) — Plans for the Olympic torch relay to pass through New Caledonia were cancelled on Saturday after rioting in the French Pacific territory left six people dead, officials announced.
The flame had been scheduled to arrive on June 11 but French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said that “priority must be given to a return to calm” in the territory.
“I think that everyone understands, given the context, that the priority really is to consolidate the return to public order, and then to appeasement.
“Priority to the safety of residents, priority to a return to calm, and priority to the political improvement of the situation.”
Anger is high over a contested voting reform in New Caledonia where hundreds of heavily armed French soldiers and police were on Saturday patrolling the capital city of Noumea
