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PNG police use tear gas on anti-Chinese rioters
Australian Associated Press - May 16, 2009
Police have used tear gas against rioters after three days of attacks on Chinese nationals and businesses in Papua New Guinea. Chinese-owned stores were ransacked in the capital, Port Moresby, on Wednesday and in the second largest city, Lae, on Thursday.
Police intervened yesterday morning in another anti-Chinese protest in Port Moresby, using tear gas to disperse a riot in a popular market directed at Chinese businesses, an eyewitness told AAP.
Chinese nationals and businesses in Port Moresby have increased security, some hiring off-duty police as guards, while many have shut their shops as advised by their embassy.
The trouble in the capital started when an anti-Chinese march attended by 100 people ended in violence and looting.
Port Moresby's police chief, Fred Yakasa, who has been criticised for allowing the protest to go ahead, blamed the violence on "hooligans taking advantage of the situation with an emotional build-up".
"There is nothing to worry about, as we will continue our patrols and increase presence on the streets," he said.
In Lae, on the north-west coast, hundreds of men attacked Chinese nationals and their small businesses on Thursday. There were unconfirmed reports of one death and serious injuries to several looters.
In The National newspaper, unnamed youths involved in the Lae attacks said Asian small-business owners were "ripping us off Who is allowing these Asians to come into our country and own small businesses which should be [PNG-] owned?"
In the past 15 years, an influx of "new Chinese" has built up trade stores and food shops.
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