PROTESTERS returned to the streets of New Caledonia today, burning police vehicles and blocking roads, as anger erupted over the extradition of a jailed independence leader to France.

French High Commission in Noumea said that protesters also set fire to the town hall in the Koumac commune and destroyed areas in Paita.

Christian Tein, an Indigenous Kanak leader, was flown to mainland France overnight on Saturday, along with six other activists.

The seven of them will await a trial on charges relating to two weeks of unrest in May that left nine people dead.

Kanaks have sought to break free from French rule for decades, which first took New Caledonia in 1853.

Violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts by the French government to reform the French constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia, which critics warned would limit the democratic rights of indigenous people.

Last week, 11 Kanak activists were arrested as part of a police investigation into the protests.

Today’s protests saw a firefighting vehicle attack, possibly by gunfire, and schools were forced to close, according to the Dumbea municipal council.

Caledonian Union president Daniel Goa said he was “astonished” by the deportation of the activists.

The leader of the country’s biggest pro-independence party said: “All they have done has been to organise more peaceful demonstrations.”

He denied claims that Mr Tein and the others were sponsors of violence.

Mr Tein leads an offshoot of the Caledonian Union called the Field Action Co-ordination Cell (CCAT).

CCAT has been involved in setting up barricades to disrupt traffic during the weeks of protests and organised marches in the country.

The National Council of Chiefs of the Indigenous Kanak people has also rejected allegations that the group was involved in the deadly violence.