Arrests for Vanuatu attack

VANUATU – Police in Vanuatu have arrested seven men over the abduction and beating of a woman who criticised the behaviour of local transport providers on Facebook.

The men were all employed in the public transport sector, including the president of the Vanuatu Land Transport Association.

It was alleged they were involved in the abduction on Sunday after the woman had criticised the transport operators over they way they squabbled while seeking fares among tourists disembarking from cruise ships.

Vanuatu police said the men, who were on bail, could face charges of kidnapping, intentional assault, threatening and unlawful assembly.

According to the Daily Post newspaper the woman, Florence Lengkon, was forcibly abducted from her place of employment in downtown Port Vila on Sunday by a group of men believed to be public transport providers.

She was reportedly taken to a separate location where she was surrounded by more men who demanded she apologise for her post then verbally abused and assaulted her.

Prior to the incident the victim had joined a public Facebook forum discussing the squabbling among public transport providers and tour operators over fares for tourists from cruise liners that frequent Port Vila each week.

Lengkon’s post, which was one of many on the page, described the behaviour of local drivers, which included the stoning of a tour operator’s bus, as arrogant and unprofessional.

Women in Vanuatu are planning a protest march next week to call for an end to violence against women in the country.

Deputy Lord Mayor of Port Vila, Leimara Malachai, said the protest was planned for next Wednesday to coincide with the first sitting of the country’s new parliament for the year.

Malachai said hundreds of men and women from the private, public and informal sector as well churches in the country will march along the Port Vila seafront to the steps of parliament.

“We have three or four petitions to forward to the minister of internal affairs so that the minister of internal affairs will work on it and we will see how it will go.”

Malachi said the petitions called for among other things a holistic approach to ending violence against women and ensuring the punishment of those involved in the abduction and beating of Florence Lengkon on the weekend.

- RNZI