Independence party walks away from French deal on New Caledonia

I don’t know how much sympathy to have for folks who boycotted their own independence referendum. 

They claimed COVID as a reason, but did the pandemic affect more expected pro-independence voters than pro-France?

Also, this was the _third_ referendum, it wasn’t one and done like Scotland. 

This seems like a movement that can’t convince a majority of the people to support it so resorts to violence because it knows Paris won’t escalate too hard.