The unrest began following protests by security officers due to a sudden reduction in their salaries and prime minister James Marape's tax deduction announcement which was later retracted.
[1] James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, later declared a state of emergency for 14 days and suspended the country's police chief and several top officials.
[5] The unrest was triggered after police and other public servants staged a protest strike outside parliament on Wednesday, after discovering that their wages had been reduced by up to 50% in their latest pay cheques.
But this answer was not accepted by many protesters, some of whom then tried to push into the parliament building - with footage showing people torching a car outside the prime minister's compound and overrunning a gate.
[2] The unrest began on 10 January following a protest by about 200 police, military and corrections officers[7] that began at the Ungi Oval in Port Moresby before proceeding outside the National Parliament[8] over sudden pay deductions that reached up to 50%, which Prime Minister James Marape attributed to a computer error,[5] as well as rumours of new taxes introduced by the government,[9] that were subsequently denied by the country's Internal Revenue Commission.
[12][13] Several shops were looted in the riots, while a security rail was torn off[14] and a police vehicle was set on fire outside the Prime Minister's office,[4] along with the guard house of the National Parliament building.
[22] Many goods stolen in the riots were returned over the weekend following an appeal by Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi for people possessing such items to leave them outside their homes for the security forces to retrieve.
[25] The National Capital District's governor Powes Parkop described the unrest in Port Moresby as an "unprecedented level of strife",[14] which prompted him to directly request the Australian government to be "on stand-by".
"[28] Luther Wenge, the governor of Morobe Province, called on parliament to convene an emergency session to discuss multiple issues, including a no-confidence vote against Marape.