Control maintained in Lae

Only three vehicles were stoned during Lae’s protest on Friday.

Otherwise, police maintained command and control within the suburbs of Eriku, town and market.

Lae metropolitan superintendent, Chris Kunyanban, said despite his office not receiving any formal notice of a planned protest, they went ahead and conducted a mini operation to safeguard lives and properties in the city.

The operation started as early as 4am on Friday, the 29th of October, where police setup checkpoints at the three strategic locations of Two-Mile, Kamkumung and Chinatown.

“Mipla sanap wantem ol polisman lo moning yet,” he stated. (We started in the morning.)

“Nogat polis i wok lo station. Olgeta station close na mipla sanap na moniterim ol bas, lukluk tasol lo ol possible man ol kam. (No police officer was in the station. All stations were closed while we monitored buses on the roads, looking at possible protesters.)

“Taim yumi mekim olsem, ol man lukluk lo moning ol save pinis so what ol i mekim, ol i kam tu tu, tri tri na ol i bung lo Eriku na Kamkumung.” (When we did that, people knew we were on guard so they arrived in twos or threes and gathered at Eriku and Kamkumung.)

Chief superintendent Kunyanban said they were mindful of residential properties along the Eriku, Town and Market corridors, including shops, public buildings and vehicles.

“Only incident weh mipla feisim lo disla taim em, ol stonim wanpla polis kar blo mi – but polis kar i orait – na tupla kar blo ol sivilien. But otherwise, nogat planti bagarap.” (The only incident we had was when they stoned a police vehicle – but the vehicle is ok – and two civilian cars. But otherwise, no major incidents occurred.)

Chief superintendent Kunyanban highlighted that lack of information was the main reason behind the protest against COVID-19 vaccination.

He stressed that information concerning the COVID-19 vaccination, its content and effects did not reach the majority of people.

“They have concerns but protest em illegal so mipla nid lo stopim ol lo go,” stated Kunyanban. (They have concerns but protesting was illegal so we had to stop them.)

“Bai yumi mas krieitim avenue lo ol weh ol appropriate authorities mas harim krai blo ol pipol bikos taim yumi no mekim, bai i gat kainkain situation i kamap. (We must create an avenue where appropriate authorities can listen to their concerns because if we don’t, similar situations will arise in future.)

“When people are looking for answers, that’s to the extreme ol ken kamap.”

(Crowd gathering at Eriku’s service station on Friday in anticipation of a protest against the COVID-19 vaccine)

Author: 
Carmella Gware