Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape declared a two-week state of emergency in the Pacific country's capital on Thursday after at least 15 people died overnight. Violent riots broke out in the country's two largest cities.
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Violence erupted in the capital Port Moresby on Wednesday evening after soldiers, police and prison guards demonstrated against the government to protest unexplained pay cuts.
Angry crowds burned buildings and looted stores in a night of chaos. The violence then spread to the city of Lae, about 300 kilometers north.
AFP
“Today we declare a 14-day state of emergency for our nation’s capital,” said James Marape.
More than 1,000 soldiers are ready to intervene “where necessary” as part of the state emergency decree, he said.
Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner David Manning confirmed on Thursday that at least 15 people had died in the country's two largest cities.
Port Moresby's main hospital treated 25 people with gunshot wounds and six others with cuts caused by machetes, according to AFP.
Chinese companies in sight
Videos filmed by AFP in the capital showed looters bursting into stores through broken windows and stuffing stolen goods into boxes, shopping carts and plastic bins.
AFP
According to AFP images, buildings and cars were set ablaze and thick clouds of black smoke hovered over the worst-hit parts of the city.
Earlier, a crowd gathered outside the prime minister's office in Port Moresby, tore down a security fence and set fire to a parked police car.
Beijing filed a complaint with the Papua New Guinea government after reports that rioters targeted Chinese companies.
China's Foreign Ministry said two Chinese nationals were “minorly injured” in the violence.
“We remind Chinese nationals in Papua New Guinea to pay close attention to the evolving security situation on the ground,” Mao Ning, a ministry spokeswoman, said on Thursday.
For its part, the US Embassy in Port Moresby reported gunfire near its compound as police tried to “disperse groups of looters.”
AFP
Maho Laveil, a Port Moresby resident who teaches economics at the University of Papua New Guinea, said peace had been “largely restored” by Thursday evening.
“They drove out the looters and prevented the buildings from burning down,” he told AFP.
“Darkest Day”
The governor of the region that includes the capital, Powes Parkop, said the unrest represented an “unprecedented level of conflict” in Port Moresby, while local newspaper the Post Courier described it as “the city's darkest day”.
Security forces protested at Papua New Guinea's parliament after their salaries were cut without justification.
Although the government quickly promised to fix what it called a “technical problem,” it was not enough to deter angry civilians from joining the riot.
The Prime Minister said the four officials involved in the issue – human resources, finance and treasury chiefs and police commissioner David Manning – had all been suspended for 14 days.
This outbreak of violence highlights the difficulties in Papua New Guinea, a country plagued by poverty and high crime rates.
Papua New Guinea is located about 200 kilometers north of Australia and is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia.
Although the country has vast reserves of gas, gold and minerals, human rights groups estimate nearly 40 percent of its nine million residents still live below the poverty line.
Australia recently signed a security agreement with Papua New Guinea, promising to help its police fight arms trafficking, drug smuggling and tribal violence.
“We continue to call for calm in these difficult times,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.