France Bans Rallies In New Caledonia During Sunday Polls

Gatherings have been banned this weekend in the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia during the second round of France's parliamentary polls.

France is on tenterhooks ahead of Sunday's run-off vote, with centrist and left-wing forces hoping to prevent the anti-immigration far right from winning an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

The High Commission, which represents the French state in the archipelago where deadly protests erupted in May, said public gatherings would be forbidden from Saturday morning to Monday night.

"A suitable security presence, including 3,500 police officers and gendarmes, will be put in place on Sunday... to guarantee the smooth running of voting operations," it said.

A ban on weapons and alcohol sales, as well as a night-time curfew that has been in force since the unrest started, will also be extended until July 15.

A wave of rioting and looting erupted in New Caledonia in mid-May over a proposed reform to update the electoral roll to include people originally from outside the territory but with more than 10 years of residency.

Indigenous Kanak people fear the plan will leave them in a permanent minority compared with French from the mainland, putting independence hopes out of reach.

The violence in the French territory has left nine dead and more than 1,700 people have been arrested, the High Commission says.

"In recent days, public order has improved thanks notably to the efficiency of reinforced security measures," it said.

"But there has been some damage to public infrastructure by rioters, including some schools."

Someone set fire to a primary school in the night of Thursday to Friday in Dumbea, north of the capital Noumea, AFP reporters said.

A fresh bout of violence erupted last month after seven indigenous Kanak independence activists accused of orchestrating the deadly riots were sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention.

An appeals court on Friday released two of them from jail, ordering they remain under house arrest on the mainland for six months.

Frederique Muliava, the office director for the speaker of the archipelago's local parliament, and Brenda Wanabo, spokeswoman for the CCAT pro-independence group, will have to wear electronic bracelets.

CCAT leader Christophe Tein, 56, was to remain behind bars, it said.

From a mainland jail on Monday, he had said that he considered himself to be a "political prisoner".

Authorities have placed Tein under judicial investigation on suspicion of colluding in attempted murder and other charges, allegations his CCAT pro-independence group denies.

The constitutional reform needed to change the territory's electoral law has de facto been abandoned, after President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament for the snap elections.