NOUMEA - Separatists in riot-hit New Caledonia refused on Monday to abandon roadblocks that have paralysed much of the Pacific archipelago and halted commercial air traffic, defying a major security operation by French forces.
France has sent 1,000 armed police, troops, and national security reinforcements to its overseas territory, a popular holiday destination rocked by seven nights of violence that have left six dead and hundreds injured.
New Caledonia, with a population of about 270,000, has been convulsed since May 13 by the unrest, sparked by French plans to impose new rules that would give tens of thousands of non-indigenous residents voting rights.
The airport remains closed to all commercial flights.
Hailing Sunday's operation as a "success", the French high commission in New Caledonia said forces would remove burned-out vehicles littering the key route for essential food and material supplies.
Pro-independence, largely Indigenous Kanak activists, said they would not release their chokehold.
"We are maintaining our roadblocks in place," said a statement by the so-called Ground Action Coordination Cell, or CCAT, some of whose leaders are under house arrest on suspicion of being behind the riots.
Roadblocks would be closed to all vehicles during night time curfews except for health emergencies and firefighters, the group said.
Authorities say about 230 people have been detained while an estimated 3,200 people are either stuck in New Caledonia or unable to return to the archipelago, which lies more than 1,000 kilometres east of Australia.
President Emmanuel Macron has called a meeting of his defence and security council for Monday.