PNG capital under emergency state
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People run with merchandise as crowds leave shops with looted goods amid a state of unrest in Port Moresby on January 10, 2024. A festering pay dispute involving Papua New Guinea's security forces on January 10 sparked angry protests in the capital, where a crowd torched a police car outside the prime minister's office. By Wednesday afternoon pockets of unrest had spread through the capital Port Moresby, with video clips on social media showing crowds looting shops and stretched police scrambling to restore order. (Photo by Andrew KUTAN / AFP)
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister declared a 14-day state of emergency in the capital Port Moresby on Thursday, after riots in two cities left 15 people dead and crowds looted and burned shops.
More than 1,000 troops were on standby “to step in wherever necessary” under the emergency decree, Prime Minister James Marape announced, a day after the violence broke out.
A group of soldiers, police officers and prison guards launched protests against the government inside parliament on Wednesday after noticing their pay had been docked without explanation.
A smaller crowd gathered outside the prime minister’s office in Port Moresby, tearing a security gate off its rails and torching a parked police car.
Angry crowds torched buildings and ransacked shops during a night of turmoil that soon spread 300 kilometers north to the city of Lae.
