PNG government tries to restore essential services after riots prompt state of emergency declaration
A 14-day state of emergency is in effect in Port Moresby as authorities try to restore law and order, as well as essential services, following violent riots.
Key points:
- There is a fragile peace in Port Moresby following violent riots after a state of emergency was declared last night
- Security firms are still warning things remain unpredictable and volatile
- Attention has now turned to restoring essential services as businesses face massive clean up bills
Tensions have been high throughout the country since a police strike paved the way for violence in PNG's capital and its second largest city of Lae, leaving 16 people dead and 51 others injured.
Shops were set on fire, ATMs were ripped out of walls and citizens were shot as crowds of angry residents took to the streets as part of the unrest.
This morning, there is a fragile peace in the capital, though security firms are still warning things remain unpredictable and volatile, as Prime Minister James Marape tries to re-establish faith in the country's security and the government.
The Marape government has placed the blame over the riots squarely at the feet of the nation's police constabulary, many of whom walked off the job in protest over a payroll issue just hours before Port Moresby descended into chaos on Wednesday.
Mr Marape has also suggested the political establishment itself could have had a role to play in this week's violence.
The events in the capital appear to have had a ripple effect on other parts of the country, with Mr Marape stating other centres were trying to copy what happened.
In an effort to restore calm, Mr Marape declared on Thursday night that 1,000 defence personnel would be on stand-by to quell any further unrest as part of a 14-day state of emergency.
The announcement was followed by a high-visibility drive-through by police and defence officers of Port Moresby, with lights and sirens.
Mr Marape has said the emergency declaration would allow the government to supervise the re-opening of stores, with multiple shops damaged as part of the riots.
Many businesses in Port Moresby are owned by Chinese nationals, including stores that were burned down on Wednesday.
Overnight, a spokesperson for China's foreign minister told China's state mouth piece, the Global Times, that the Chinese embassy in PNG would provide consular protection and assistance to Chinese nationals and institutions in PNG.
Already, residents across the city are struggling to access necessities and attention has now turned to shoring up supplies of essential services.
Some banks and petrol stations have reopened with limited business hours in PNG's capital, while other businesses are facing massive clean-up bills.
A review into the riots is underway
Last night, Mr Marape confirmed he had suspended his chief of police as well as top bureaucrats in the finance and treasury departments while the government conducted a review of the cause of the riots.
The unrest began after hundreds of police officers, soldiers, prison staff and other public servants walked off their jobs over what the government described as a payroll error.
It meant 300 Kina ($120) was docked from the fortnightly pay packets of public servants across the country, which is worth about half the pay of junior public service staff. It's expected to be returned in the next pay cycle.
Papua New Guinea's taxation body blamed a payroll "glitch" for the error.
But many of those who gathered at Parliament House for a demonstration on Wednesday believed a new tax had been enacted, a claim strenuously denied by PNG's Internal Revenue Commission (IRC).