Prime Minister (PM) James Marape is expected to announce to the country this afternoon whether a State of Emergency (SOE) will be declared in the city of Port Moresby with tough security measures to be put in place. The PM this morning in his address to the nation, said that the actions by the public, mostly opportunists yesterday, were uncalled for and unfortunate. However, he assured the public and business houses that there is now control in the city with additional police manpower flown in from Lae last night to assist police officers and Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) soldiers on the ground. “Today the National Security Advisory Committee will meet and later today, the National Security Council meet, and cabinet will convene at 2 O’clock today to look into what has taken place yesterday, what gave rise to the police issue,” said the PM. The PM also suggested that there is something more at play here than just the glitch in the payroll system, which resulted in the riots and lootings. He mentioned that there is indication of a mob that run from one part of the city to another causing riots and lootings, which he described as “organized riots” that took place after police went to work. “We are also looking deeper into this, we are tracing contacts, and we are ascertaining that there is deep political influence on the side to ensure this sort of things take place in our country.” Marape said the National Security Advisory Committee meeting will recommend certain actions to be taken and the National Security Council meet after that, will also put forth recommendations to cabinet for approval before the country can know about the steps forward in terms of security in the city. The PM also apologized to the business community for the losses in the riots yesterday and pledged to assist them in some ways to recoup their losses. He also sends his condolences to the families of the opportunists who made the poor decision to loot the shops and supermarkets and ended up dead.   PM Marape then appealed to the public to take ownership of the city and stop the nonsense of further destructions to public properties.