More than 250 women from Morata covered their faces in mud, to signify mourning, and entered the main Waigani campus this morning.
The women were in an adult literacy class in a church at the back of the University of Papua New Guinea, opposite Fort Banner, when they heard shots being fired.
“We looked out and saw what looked like a live movie, unfolding in front of our eyes,” a spokeswoman told Loop PNG. “Students were running into bushes, trying to hide from police. It was like rebels trying to hide from Government officers. We are not a Communist country.”
Because of that, the women started crying, rubbed mud on their faces and came to UPNG. The adult literacy class had 250 female participants. Along their way to the campus, the number started growing with wailing women, with their hands on their heads.
“Students were scattered everywhere while police tried to surround them. That was why we Morata residents stepped in to protect them.
“We parents have to protect our children,” the spokeswoman said.
Students are gathered at the Forum Square with a number of Uniforce Security guards as well as the group of women from Morata.
Currently a St John’s ambulance has been going back and forth from the campus to the hospital, transferring injured students.
The number of fatalities is still increasing.
Student leaders are not sure of the number of wounded or dead students.
