Reuters. Papua New Guinea's prime minister declared a state of emergency on Thursday (January 11), suspending government and police officials after 16 people were killed in rioting in the Pacific island nation.
Prime Minister James Marape told a press conference he had suspended Papua New Guinea's chief of police and top bureaucrats in the finance and treasury departments while the government conducts a review into the cause of the riots.
A police and public sector protest on Wednesday (January 10) over a pay cut that officials blamed on an administrative glitch descended into lawlessness.
Television footage showed thousands of people in the streets of the capital Port Moresby, many of them carrying what appeared to be looted merchandise as black smoke billowed over the city.
