New riots broke out in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, on Thursday, a day after protesters tried to occupy parliament and overthrow Prime Minister Manasi Sogavari.
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After a riot on Wednesday, a curfew was set, but protesters ignored it and took to the streets again, attacking police and businesses in Honiara’s Chinatown and burning down buildings.
A Honiara resident who wanted to remain anonymous says police have set up checkpoints, but the riots continued more than 24 hours after they began. He says the situation is tense.
Local media report that protesters are robbing shops, but police are using tear gas against them. Other eyewitnesses say there are attacks on Chinese-owned businesses. The Chinese embassy has responded by expressing serious concern to the Solomon Islands government.
The embassy called on Solomon Islands to “take all necessary measures to strengthen the protection of Chinese companies and personnel.”
The video shows several buildings on fire and a thick cloud of smoke rising high above the capital.
Sogavare has said his government is still in power.
Several hundred demonstrators set fire to buildings on Wednesday, including a police station, and looted shops, but then marched into parliament demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sogavare.
The Prime Minister immediately set a curfew in Honiara. He called the riots a “sad and unfortunate event aimed at overthrowing a democratically elected government” and promised that those responsible would “be tried and face the full force of the law”.
Most of the protesters are reported to be from neighboring Malait. The people of Malawi have long complained that they are being neglected by the central government and have strongly opposed Solomon Islands’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with China in 2019, ending them with Taiwan.
Opposition leader Matthew Vale has called on the prime minister to step down, saying “36 hours of command is another reactionary response to the current situation.”
“Unfortunately, people’s dissatisfaction and suffocated anger against the Prime Minister are pouring uncontrollably into the streets, where opportunists are taking advantage of the already serious (..) situation,” Vale said.
Addressing the people today, Sogavare announced that the country was safe and that the government was continuing its work, adding that those responsible for the riots would face all the harshness of the law.
A similar conflict between islanders led to the deployment of an Australian-led peacekeeping force in Solomon Islands from 2003 to 2017, and Wellington and Canberra are closely following the current situation.
The New Zealand Foreign Ministry said today that the Solomon Islands government has not asked New Zealand for help. Australian officials have not yet commented on the situation.
In 2006, after the parliamentary elections, Honiara’s Chinatown was devastated, following rumors that Beijing-related companies had intervened in the elections.
Sogavare said the current unrest involved people led by dishonest people.
“I honestly think we have left the darkest days in the history of our country, but (..) these events are a painful reminder that we still have a long way to go,” said the Prime Minister.
“Hundreds of citizens today took the law into their own hands. Their purpose was to destroy our nation and the (..) trust that was gradually building in our nation,” he added.
“No one is above the law (..), these people will be responsible for the consequences of their actions,” Sogavare said.
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