Papua New Guinea declares state of emergency after 16 are killed in rioting
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister declared a state of emergency on Thursday, suspending government and police officials after 16 people were killed in rioting.
SYDNEY — Papua New Guinea’s prime minister declared a state of emergency on Thursday, suspending government and police officials after 16 people were killed in rioting in the Pacific island nation.
A police and public sector protest on Wednesday over a pay cut that officials blamed on an administrative glitch descended into lawlessness.
Television footage showed thousands of people in the streets of the capital, Port Moresby, many of them carrying what appeared to be looted merchandise as black smoke billowed over the city.
Nine people were killed in the rioting in Port Moresby and seven were killed in Lae, in the north of the gold and copper-mining country, Australian state broadcaster ABC reported on Thursday, citing police.
Prime Minister James Marape told a news conference he had suspended Papua New Guinea’s chief of police and top bureaucrats in the finance and treasury departments while the government conducts a review into the cause of the riots.
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