Wabag MP Robert Ganim has called on the Government, especially the police, to treat the current anti-government campaigns in the country led by university students as a “threat to national security”.
He is calling for an independent inquiry into the whole saga.
Ganim, who is also Chairman of the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Education (PRCE), said the fact that the students have now taken their issue out of the campus and into the vulnerable public in the provinces was a serious issue of concern. Authorities must not down play and undermine this.
He was reacting to last Thursday’s riot in Wabag town which left many innocent public injured and thousands of kina in damages to properties.
He condemned the unauthorised public rally that led to the riot and called on police to investigate and arrest those responsible.
Ganim said several people were injured from wild stone-throwing in town while several vehicles, including the provincial police commander’s, Enga Teachers College, Sopas Nursing College and other innocent motorists on public road, had their vehicles damaged.
Wabag’s pride, the BSP bank building, also suffered severe damages.
Ganim said he was on electoral rounds in the district when the incident occurred and was the first to talk to Enga acting PPC Epenes Nilin and learnt that police did not authorise the rally.
The riot was sparked off after police tried to stop a public rally hosted by Enga students from the University of Technology.
A second rally on Friday, which was authorised by police, was led by Enga students from the University of Papua New Guinea who ended it peacefully with copies of petitions intended for the six Enga MPs presented to Wabag police.