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The crowd - an estimated 2000 according to organisers, 500 according to police - had been called to voice their opposition to a French-planned constitutional amendment process.
Analysis - Gérald Darmanin has confirmed he will visit New Caledonia on 20 February, as the French Pacific entity is facing pressing issues on economic and political levels.
The French minister plans to travel to Noumea "mid-February", but it depends on whether protracted talks between local politicians on the territory's political future are showing signs of progress.
The endorsement comes as part of preparations to a French government Bill, currently being drafted and to be tabled soon in the French Parliament (in the shape of an "organic law"), to effectively postpone the provincial polls in New Caledonia.
One of the key players in the restoration of peace in New Caledonia in the 1980s, Louis Le Pensec, has died earlier this week aged 87.