Daniel Goa, president of Caledonian Union, the biggest pro-independence political party, said in a statement he was “astonished” at the deportation of Tein and six other party officials on Saturday night.
“All they have done has been to organise more peaceful demonstrations,” he said. He denied the prosecutor’s allegations that Tein and the others were sponsors of violence.
Police had arrested Tein, who leads an offshoot of Caledonian Union called Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT) last week.
CCAT have set up barricades that have disrupted traffic for weeks, and Tein had met French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to Noumea last month aimed at resolving the political impasse.
On Monday French loyalist politicians including Sonia Backes and Nicolas Metzdorf said in a statement a third of local business had been destroyed and they had sent a letter to Macron requesting the New Caledonia government be placed under state administration, as it was “no longer fit to lead”.
