PNG police fire on student protesters, four reported dead

The impoverished Pacific nation recorded a 2-1 semi-final win over the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, the same day police opened fire on students preparing to rally against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in the capital Port Moresby.

Initial reports said four students were killed and more than a dozen injured when police opened fire.

The students were marching from their campus in the capital, Port Moresby, towards parliament where O’Neill faces a possible no confidence motion.

O’Neill has denied wrongdoing.

“Until there’s official confirmation our understanding is that people were injured but we’ve not been able to confirm any deaths”, she said.

“Now there is a very big clash with the public and with the police just outside the Port Moresby General Hospital”, a hospital official, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said.

Mr Ki-moon called for calm and emphasised the “importance of respect for peaceful protest and freedom of assembly, and a commitment to rule of law, dialogue and non-violence”.

Stringer. / Reuters A Papua New Guinea police special services division officer (L) talks through a megaphone as students attempt to march from University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, June 8, 2016.

Images circulating on social media showed apparently injured students being carried away.

Baki said that when police told the students their march was illegal, they were pelted with stones before shots were fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

Footage obtained by the BBC appeared to show a large crowd of students at the campus running away as shots and tear gas were fired.

“The court order also bans students from boycotting classes, which they have been doing for the past five weeks”.

Anti-corruption campaigner Noel Anjo Kolao, who helped organise the protest, said police had set up roadblocks and pointed their guns at students.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued guidance to citizens in PNG, warning there are “reports of looting and unrest in other parts of Port Moresby including Gerehu and the Hahola Markets”.

“This protest and the factors that led to the incident today have been driven by people who are not students”, he said in the statement.

PNG Police Minister Robert Atiyafa warned that “opportunists who are intent on burning buildings, smashing cars and assaulting students who do not want to protest, will be arrested and charged”. It is ranked 139 out of 168 in Transparency International’s corruption index.

Several media outlets have reached out to the Papua New Guinea police force for comment following the alleged shooting at a UPNG protest.

“Prime Minister Peter O’Neill should immediately launch an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation”.

In 2014, Mr O’Neill himself was accused of fraud by the national anti-corruption watchdog, which issued a warrant for his arrest.