Condemnation spreading

AUSTRALIA – Australian and Papua New Guinean students as well as trade union representatives picketed the Papua New Guinea Consulate in Sydney yesterday to express their anger at the shooting of unarmed university students.

Placards were waved by protesters outside the PNG Consulate before Sydney-based PNG consul general Sumasy Singin came out to discuss the situation with the protesters.

The protest in Sydney coincides with condemnation by student journalists at the University of the South Pacific of PNG of police for being “highly reckless” when they opened fire into a crowd of unarmed students in Port Moresby.

In a statement today to Asia Pacific Report, the Fiji-based USP Journalism Students Association (JSA) said its members were “deeply shocked and saddened” by the reported shooting, causing gunshot injuries to at least eight or more people who were taken to hospital.

The USP JSA said in its statement that it “strongly feels that the PNG police department grossly overreacted and behaved in a highly reckless manner”.

It added: “This kind of behavior from the authorities will only aggravate the situation.”

JSA president Shalveer Singh expressed his disappointment with the double standards being practised.

“On one hand political leaders encourage youth to voice their opinions, but on the other hand, when they start voicing out their opinions, they are intimidated by higher authorities, and in this case, shot at and severely injured.” - PNC