Australian Max Winchester said he and his wife had been holidaying on the island and had been due to fly home but now found themselves trapped in their resort with no indication of when the airport may reopen.

“We were in the city walking around on Tuesday morning and everything was fine, we would wish the protesters ‘bonjour’, they’d say it back, they’d smile, and everything was fine, we went for lunch, came back from lunch and everything turned,” he told Nine Radio.

“And all of a sudden, cars were being set alight, things were being set alight … looting started, shops on fire, supermarkets looted, so there are now people doing it without food, including tourists.”

Winchester said he had contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade but was told “we are on our own”. He said he was in a fortunate position as his resort still had “some food” and that staff, who had brought their own families to sleep on the floor of the dining hall, were keeping a 24-hour watch on the premises.

“We are in a good position but we are still at risk but at any moment it could blow up here,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.

Noumea resident Yoan Fleurot told Reuters in a Zoom interview that he has seen looting and destruction of properties. Some store owners willingly let their shelves be raided, pleading that their shops not be destroyed, he said.

Fleurot said he is armed with a 16-calibre gun and has video surveillance installed around his house, adding he has only ventured out in daylight to check on his parents or his properties.

The roadblocks were difficult to pass through, and he has been subjected to insults and threats of violence, he said.

“I am New Caledonian, but I no longer know my country any more,” he said.

“Caledonia will have a hard time recovering from this crisis... Everything, 80 per cent, is destroyed,” he added.

Main and secondary roads in Noumea were blocked by barricades with burning cars and car carcasses, some with booby traps with gas bottles and ignition systems, French official Le Franc said.

“I am calling on those at the head of the CCAT to stop these actions, which are murderous, deadly actions that can leave families in mourning,” he said, referring to the Field Action Co-ordination Cell (CCAT), which organised the protests that began on Monday.

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He said CCAT was “an organisation of thugs which engages in acts of violence”, and differentiated it from the main pro-independence party, FLNKS, and other pro-independence political groups.

FLNKS has condemned the violence and called for dialogue to resolve the situation.

There were also confrontations overnight between active members of CCAT and self-defence groups, or militias, which were formed to protect themselves, he said, adding the militia are also in breach of the curfew and the ban on carrying weapons.

Rioting broke out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections – a move some local leaders fear will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote.

Three young Kanak have died in the riots, and a 24-year-old police official died from a gunshot wound.

Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France’s role in the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, some 1500 kilometres east of Australia.

Reuters, AAP, AP

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