Papua New Guinea: at least 15 dead during riots in the capital and other cities

At least 15 people died during riots in cities around the world Papua New Guineawhose Government called on the Army to try to restore order.

As a result of a peaceful protest called the day before by the Police and other security agents, some criminals took advantage of the situation to carry out looting in Port Moresby, the capital, and in the city of Lae, the second most populous in the country. .

According to the latest report published by the Lae metropolitan police, eight people died in the capital and seven in Lae, reports the Australian public channel ABC.

“The ambulance service has received a large number of emergency calls in the capital related to shootings and people injured in an explosion”, highlighted the Saint John Papua New Guinea emergency service on its Facebook profile.

Videos posted on social media show warehouses on fire and large crowds participating in looting, which spread to other regions and lasted until the early hours of the night, according to local newspaper Post-Courier.

Before the riots, around 200 striking police, military and prison guards entered Parliament peacefully during a demonstration to protest the increase in taxes on civil servants’ salaries.

Looters and opportunists took advantage of the weak security situation to unleash chaos.

The Prime Minister, James Marape, insisted this morning at an event with the media in asking the population not to “take to the streets and do whatever they want” and stressed that it is imperative that the country reestablish security, stressing that they will open a investigation to determine responsibility for what happened.

“Yesterday the police did not work in the city and people resorted to anarchy,” he added.

Given the tense situation, Marape on Wednesday authorized Defense personnel to “assist the police in restoring order” in the country.

Military officers today asked a crowd gathered in Lae for calm, after blocking streets and closing several official buildings in the city, according to the video published by the Post-Courier.

Papua New Guinea, a resource-rich nation that has a large portion of its twelve million inhabitants in extreme poverty, is isolated by communication problems, especially in remote areas where security, as well as basic health and education services are lacking.

Independent from Australia in 1975, this country – whose government signed a security agreement with Canberra last December that includes financial aid to modernize its police forces – also has a long history of political intrigue, corruption and internal conflict.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.