Coronavirus: Cruise ship with Kiwis aboard met with violent protest at Reunion Island

A cruise ship carrying New Zealand and Australian passengers arrived at Reunion Island to violent protests, with locals hurling bottles and pebbles for fear that some aboard may be infected with the coronavirus. 

Police used tear gas to end the clash with the some 30 people who had gathered to meet the Sun Princess when it docked in the French territory east of Madagascar on March 1, AFP reported. 

Protesters wanted the some 2000 passengers on the British-flagged, US-operated Princess Cruises liner to undergo health checks to prevent the virus from spreading to their island. 

When protesters tried to stop passengers from leaving the port and threw bottles and pebbles at security forces, police responded with tear gas. 

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Protester Yannis Latchimy said the group was "not against the arrival of tourists" but wanted "to be sure that there is no risk of the coronavirus propagating". 

Disembarking passengers were not seen having their temperatures taken and none took the face masks offered by a regional health authority representative, the report said. 

"We do not know if these people are sick, they were not tested. It is very dangerous," Latchimy was quoted saying. 

The Sun Princess was barred from docking in Madagascar on February 13 on the grounds that it had visited Thailand, where there has been an outbreak of Covid-19, less than a fortnight beforehand, the Daily Mail reported. The incubation period for the virus is 14 days.

The ship had been set to sail to Mauritius next but the government has withdrawn its permission to visit. 

Kiwi Rob Pascoe, travelling on the ship with his wife Julie Brockway, told NZ Herald that protesters threw rocks and shouted abuse at passengers as they passed through Pointe des Gallets port in shuttle buses. 

"Some passengers were very distressed and others absolutely steaming, fuming when they got back," he said. "People feared for their safety."

Pascoe said there were no cases of the virus on the ship and no one had been wearing face masks or taking any other precautions against contracting the virus. 

More than 700 passengers and crew members on the Diamond Princess, also operated by Princess Cruises, were infected with the coronavirus, including some New Zealanders, triggering international criticism of the quarantine and Japan's disease control capability.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato has told a news conference the ship is now empty and ready for sterilisation and safety checks to prepare for its next voyage. He did not give a timeline.

The Diamond Princess had carried an infected passenger part way on the cruise before returning to its home port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on February 3.

Kato said the government would look into the handling of the cruise ship.

"We should investigate the case so that we will not expand infections again," he said on Sunday.

He also said, however, that crisis management of a foreign-flagged and operated ship is difficult for a single government to deal with, and suggested that there is a need to promote a global framework in tackling future crises.