Russia is accused of organizing a cyber attack on New Caledonia

Rioters blocked the main road to the airport in New Caledonia during the worst protests yet. Photo: DELPHINE MAYEUR/AFP via Getty Images

France has accused Russian hackers of launching an «unprecedented» cyber attack on New Caledonia as Emmanuel Macron flew to the Pacific territory to try to quell a violent uprising.

Cyber The attack came hours after French investigators reportedly said they suspected Moscow was involved in the painting of pro-Palestinian red hands at a Holocaust memorial in Paris last week.

“Last night we suffered a cyber attack of unprecedented force in New Caledonia, as the [Internet] service provider was attacked from outside the IP address with the aim of saturating the network of New Caledonia,” said Christopher Gijes, a member of the local collegiate government.

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«Most of the IP addresses identified» came from Russia, as he told BFMTV, adding that the attack was stopped «before any serious damage could be caused.»

«Millions of emails were sent simultaneously to an email address intended to saturate the network «and render it inoperable,» he said, calling the cyber attack a «provocation» ahead of Macron's visit.

Deadliest riots in four decades were prompted by French plans to grant voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous residents, which the Kanaks believed would weaken their votes.

Six people have died since local Kanak separatists began protesting over changes to voting rules. Photo: AP Photo/Nicholas Job

French authorities sent more than 1,000 troops, tactical police and national security reinforcements from Paris in an attempt to quell the violence. 

Police have arrested more than 280 “rebels” in the French territory of 270,000 people, authorities said. However, unrest continues, although not on the same scale as last week.

Mr Macron was due to arrive in the restive French territory on Thursday, where he plans to meet local authorities and organize «a mission to calm the situation in the archipelago after a week of unrest that left six people dead.

Despite In response to attempts to force them out, Kanak separatists have reportedly set up temporary roadblocks, including on the main route to the international airport.

Armed locals of French and other origins have erected their own barricades in the neighborhood.

The cyberattack comes amid French allegations of foreign interference in New Caledonia and other overseas territories. Last week, France accused Azerbaijan of seeking to stir up anti-Paris sentiment in the archipelago.

Azerbaijan quickly rejected the accusations as «baseless.»

On Wednesday, French investigative weekly Le Canard Enchene cited French intelligence sources accusing Russia of leaving about 20 red handprints.

Le Canard reported that investigators were able to identify and track via CCTV the two Bulgarian citizens behind the graffiti, as well as their accomplice who filmed the scene.

Dressed in black, they mark the Wall of the Righteous, which lists the names of the 3,900 people who risked their lives to save Jews during the occupation.

Shortly afterwards, investigators discovered their hideout — a hotel in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, where there was a copy of the passport. According to available data, one of them was found. Immediately after the “operation,” the three suspects boarded a bus to Brussels.

The symbolism of red hands has become the subject of controversy in France in recent weeks after students at Sciences Po Paris raised red-painted hands in support of Palestine. 

However, critics point out that the red hands are also reminiscent of the lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah by Palestinians in October 2000, one of whom then showed his bloody hands to the crowd.

p>This vandalism reminiscent of the Stars of David spray-painted on walls in several areas of Paris last October.

Investigators have established that the four Moldovans behind the tags were ordered by a businessman allegedly close to Moscow. 

Two of the four suspects also fled Paris, boarding the same FlixBus to Brussels.

France has repeatedly accused Russia of seeking to stir up anti-French sentiment in Africa, and more recently in panic over a bedbug infestation intensifies in France.

Russia has stepped up its anti-French rhetoric since Macron said he would not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine if its defenses failed.

< p >On Wednesday, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, quoted by RIA Novosti, warned that if France sends its troops to Ukraine, Russia’s response will be “not only political.”

Artem Studennikov, head of the European department The ministry did not specify what measures Russia would take in such a case, but said that Moscow had warned Paris about them, and added that sending French troops to Ukraine would increase the risk of a clash between the two nuclear powers.