Police in Lae have reported that the Papua New Guinea (PNG) University of Technology (UoT) remains calm for now, following the student protest on Monday regarding the signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between PNG and the United States (US).
Lae Metropolitan Superintendent Christ Kunyanban said the students protest went off quite peacefully with the students handing over a petition to the Morobe Governor, Luther Wenge.
“There were some opportunists at the entrance and along the main road leading up to UoT, who gathered and proceeded to stone passing vehicles.”
“We managed to control and contain that situation with much help from the students of the UoT.”
Police were able to remove debris from the road and people and vehicle traffic were allowed to flow as normal.
The Met. Supt. also said that police heard rumors of a protest to be staged today and personnel were stationed at the entrance at the UoT as early as 4am on Tuesady morning, but nothing has occurred so far.
“We will continue to monitor the situation at the UoT and other parts of the city as well.”
Apart from the protest at the UoT, Kunyanban revealed also that there are a number of vehicles bearing placards in protest over the DCA doing rounds in the city.
The Lae City Police Boss is now appealing to the residents at this time, to be considerate of each other, when and if they are planning any protests.
“If anything turns nasty, the consequences will be ours. If you start spoiling public properties and services, it will affect the whole community.
So, my advice is, whatever comes up, let’s take it onboard and make sure it is legalized, do it properly and be considerate of private and public properties for our benefit.”