PORT MORESBY (Papua New Guinea): Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday declared a two-week state of emergency in the capital, Port Moresby, and suspended the Pacific island nation’s chief of police after violent protests killed as many as 16 people in the country, The New York Times reported.
The unrest began on Wednesday after police, defence officers and other public servants appeared to walk off their jobs to protest what they said was an unexpected pay cut. The Papua New Guinea government blamed the error on a computer glitch and promised to fix the problem, but the situation in Port Moresby devolved quickly.
In the protests, more than a dozen stores were set on fire, and there were reports of widespread looting as the unrest lasted into the night. There were also reports of fatalities in Port Moresby, the capital, and in Lae, the nation’s second-largest city, but the authorities did not release any official figures.
The violence came amid the backdrop of high unemployment and a rising cost of living in the country of about ten million people, according to The New York Times.
About 1,000 special forces troops were on standby to prevent further unrest, Prime Minister James Marape said during a news conference on Thursday as he announced an investigation into the crisis. In addition to David Manning, the commissioner of police, Marape also suspended the heads of the government’s finance, treasury and personnel management departments, as per The New York Times.
There were signs that the authorities had been able to regain some control, with the US Embassy in Port Moresby saying in a statement on Thursday that the police and defence forces had returned to work. “However,” it added, “tensions remain high–the relative calm can change at a moment’s notice”.
Marape, who has pushed for closer ties with the United States and Australia while also maintaining economic links with China, suggested the unrest had been orchestrated by his political opponents, as per The New York Times. He said, “You want to change the government, change it on the floor of Parliament. Not using my people to create lawlessness and recklessness”. (ANI)