Papua New Guinea capital rocked by violent riots as police strike over pay

[Edge Guerrero]

Governor blames looting on ‘opportunists’ as officers are redeployed to Port Moresby from regional areas

People have been killed and shops and businesses set on fire in the capital of Papua New Guinea after police went on strike over pay, according to the local governor.

Property in Port Moresby had been looted by “opportunists” after events “spiralled out of control”, the governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop, said in a radio broadcast.

“We have seen unprecedented level of strife in our city, something that has never happened before in the history of our city and our country,” he said in a live stream on Facebook. “This must stop tonight,” he added.

David Manning, the commissioner of police, said extra police were being moved into Port Moresby from regional areas. Defence forces are reportedly being relocated to the city to reinforce officers on the ground.

Footage showed fires burning in the city on Wednesday, with the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier newspaper reporting firefighters had been threatened as they tried to do their jobs.

The guard house at parliament had also been burned by protesters, the Post-Courier reported.

Without police, the city had “lost control”, Parkop said in the broadcast, adding that “some people sadly lost their life today”.

Police had begun a strike on Wednesday morning after discovering a reduction in their pay packets. The government circulated messages on social media denying that a new tax had been imposed on police, with James Marape, the prime minister, vowing to fix any administrative error that had caused the pay shortfall.

Police in the Pacific Island country have struggled with an increase in violent crime over the past year.

The prime minister has said increasing security would help to attract foreign investment in PNG’s growing gold and copper resources sector.

Marape said his goal was to expand the country’s economy to 200bn kina (£41bn) by 2029, thereby more than doubling its gross domestic product compared with when he took office in 2019, with the help of five gas and mining projects.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/10/papua-new-guinea-capital-rocked-by-violent-riots-as-police-strike-over-pay