A man believed to be a student was killed and several other people were reportedly wounded in clashes between students of the Port Moresby Technical College and residents of Gabi and Hanuabada villages on Tuesday.
Several properties including homes and vehicles were also damaged in these violent clashes.
The fighting culminated from a robbery incident, in which a male student was reportedly robbed and valuables including two mobile phones, some school text books, a certificate and a laptop computer were stolen by thugs at the roundabout leading into Badihagwa high school on Monday afternoon.
NCD Metropolitan Superintendent Silva Sika said student leaders went to Gabi in their bid to recover the stolen items but the talks failed and fighting broke out between the students and the local residents.
Police responded and dispersed the violent crowds on Monday night, but the situation remained tense, he said.
“We stopped them, but when the day students arrived in the morning, their numbers swelled and they waged another attack on the community in Gabi, and Hanuabada villages, Metsupt Sika said.
The fighting flared at around 7am yesterday and a man, believed to be a student at Pom Tech was found dead and reported to police.
The students retaliated by confronting the villages along the main Kanudi highway early yesterday.
Mr Sika said some of them converged on the hills overlooking Gabi and several police vehicles and personnel were also pelted by rocks.
He said police reinforcements from the Mobile Squads and other sectors within the NCD Metropolitan Command were brought in to quell the fighting.
The fighting has stopped but police are still deployed in the area to prevent further clashes. Mr Sika said the police sought assistance from the community leaders and three suspects involved in robbing the student were arrested and detained.
He said the stolen text books were recovered from the three suspects detained by police.
Two more suspects in possession of the phones and lap top computer are still at large.
Police will investigate the killing, and they will also assess and establish the extent of injuries and damages caused by this violence.