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Police Fire on Student Protesters in Papua New Guinea, Lawmaker Says Police Fire on Student Protesters in Papua New Guinea, Lawmaker Says
(about 4 hours later)
SYDNEY, Australia — The police opened fire on student protesters in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, on Wednesday, a member of the country’s Parliament said. There were reports of casualties, but it was unclear whether anyone had been killed. SYDNEY, Australia — The police opened fire on student protesters in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, on Wednesday, a member of the country’s Parliament said. Officials said that more than 20 people were wounded but that no one was killed.
About 2,000 students from the University of Papua New Guinea had gathered to make their way to Parliament to demand that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill resign, said the lawmaker, Gary Juffa. Mr. O’Neill has been accused of corruption. About 2,000 students from the University of Papua New Guinea had gathered to make their way to Parliament to demand that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill resign, said the lawmaker, Gary Juffa. Mr. O’Neill has been embroiled in a long-running corruption scandal, and for weeks thousands of university students have boycotted classes and demanded his resignation.
“Paramilitary police and squad police told the students they needed to turn back because they did not have permission to hold the protest,” said Mr. Juffa, a critic of the prime minister. “Then they started firing. Reports are sketchy, but I heard one person has been killed.” “Paramilitary police and squad police told the students they needed to turn back because they did not have permission to hold the protest,” said Mr. Juffa, a critic of the prime minister. “Then they started firing.”
Noel Anjo, a protester who was with the students, said that he had heard shots and that he believed four people had been wounded. He said ambulances had taken them to the nearby Port Moresby General Hospital. “No one knows yet how many are hurt,” he said. A spokesman for the country’s police force, Dominic Kakas, said that 23 people had been hospitalized, at least five of them in critical condition.
Noel Anjo, a demonstrator, said that students from the university had decided to take buses to Parliament to protest but that they were stopped at a police roadblock and asked to disembark. He said he later heard shots. “No one knows yet how many are hurt,” he said.
Video posted on social media showed a number of people running as shots rang out, and photos showed wounded people being carried. The authenticity of the images could not immediately be verified.Video posted on social media showed a number of people running as shots rang out, and photos showed wounded people being carried. The authenticity of the images could not immediately be verified.
For weeks, thousands of Papua New Guinea university students have boycotted classes and demanded the resignation of Mr. O’Neill, who has been embroiled in a long-running corruption scandal. A statement from Mr. O’Neill’s office blamed “agitators” from outside the university for both the violence and the weeks of student protest, saying that members of the political opposition had been involved in the demonstrations.
Mr. Anjo said students from the university had decided to take buses to the Parliament to protest but were stopped at a police roadblock. “The facts relayed to me are that a small group of students were violent, threw rocks at police and provoked a response that came in the form of tear gas and warning shots,” Mr. O’Neill said in the statement. “The factors that led to students being injured are yet to be ascertained.”
Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said in Queensland, “I know that students have been shot, but we’re still trying to determine whether there have been deaths and how many have been injured.” Papua New Guinea is a former Australian colony, and a number of Australian federal police officers are stationed there as trainers and advisers to the country’s security forces. The statement promised an investigation of what it called “external funding” of the protests. It made no mention of the police or of investigating the shooting, as Human Rights Watch has demanded.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the shooting “a truly terrible incident.” He called on Mr. O’Neill to “immediately launch an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation.” Phil Robertson, the rights group’s deputy Asia director, said Mr. O’Neill “should immediately launch an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation, and all officials found criminally culpable for orders and actions resulting in injuries and deaths should be held to account, no matter what their rank.”
Demonstrators set fire to a university dormitory after the shooting, according to the police, who also said that some shops had been looted.
Mr. O’Neill, who was elected in 2012, has been accused of authorizing millions of dollars in corrupt payments to a law firm, which he denies. Opposition politicians have called for him to temporarily step down from his office while an investigation is conducted.