French Polynesian president laying low in Fiji [+video]

French Polynesian president Oscar Temaru has been almost invisible at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji as he wrestles with an insurrection on the home front, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.

Security forces teargassed stone-throwing mobs in the French Polynesian capital Papeete yesterday, forcing out hundreds of demonstrators who had occupied the presidential palace and other key government buildings overnight.

The forces moved in after protesters demanding lower living costs seized the presidential palace, assembly building and economic and social headquarters late on Sunday, the AFP news agency reported.

Mr Temaru yesterday hailed the security forces' actions from Fiji, where Helen Clark said he had been keeping a very low profile.

"We haven't seen Mr Temaru around in the last 24 hours since the meeting opened," she said on National Radio.

The issue had been raised at the forum, but was deemed too fluid for the forum to address.

"The best advice we had was it wasn't a coup, at most an insurrection related to a strike."

The protesters had demanded Mr Temaru's immediate return from Fiji for face-to-face talks over measures to rein in the high cost of living and petrol prices.

- NZPA