23 May 2013

New Caledonia strike grounds all domestic flights

1:18 pm on 23 May 2013

New Caledonia's domestic airline has cancelled all of today's flights because of a general strike organised by most unions.

The strike is in its second week and is aimed at forcing the government and big business to lower prices, which are far higher than in mainland France.

A group of protesters went to the international airport and persuaded the President, Harold Martin, not to leave for French Polynesia where he was due to celebrate the link between his hometown Paita and Pirae on Tahiti.

A union leader says someone has to take charge of the situation as the vice-president, Gilbert Tyueinon, already is in Paris as are the politicians who are members of the French legislature.

The strikers blocked the port of Noumea and the fuel depots yesterday after targetting the city's biggest supermarkets last week.

Despite the government's undertaking to cut tariffs on food stuffs from non-European Union countries, there is no indication when the strike will end.