Papua New Guinea riots leave 16 people dead
SIXTEEN people have died in rioting in Papua New Guinea resulting in the prime minister declaring a state of emergency yesterday.
Violence erupted after police, soldiers and prison guards went on strike over a perceived pay cut that officials blamed on an administrative glitch.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Port Moresby with some torching buildings and ransacking shops. Nine people died in the rioting in the capital where a mob gathered outside prime minister James Marape’s office and set fire to a police car.
Within hours the unrest spread to the city of Lae, 185 miles north, where seven people were killed in clashes.
The Papua New Guinea Post-courier said Wednesday’s unrest marked “the darkest day” in Port Moresby’s history, adding police had stood by as looters and hooligans ran rampant in an “unprecedented” crime spree. The main hospital in the capital treated 25 people suffering from gunshot wounds as well as six who had been stabbed with bush knives or machetes.
Violence in the city subsided yesterday with the authorities drafting in police and military reinforcements to maintain order.
Mr Marape suspended his chief of police and top bureaucrats in the finance and treasury departments while the government conducted a review into the cause of the riots. “There was evidence of organised rioting that took place,” Mr Marape told reporters, adding that the review would ensure “we secure democracy, we secure rule of law”.
James Nomane, one of six MPS to quit over the unrest, called for the resignation of an “indecisive and weak” Mr Marape as he accused him of turning the country into a “banana republic”.