UPNG protest 2016

Non-governmental organisation (NGO), Partners with Melanesians Inc, yesterday gave K4,000 to meet the hospital cost of the four students still admitted at the Port Moresby General Hospital internal care unit.

Activist Noel Anjo said: "The money is from the public appeal. Not from a politician or any political parties.”

The students will get K1,000 each to foot their medical bills.

Tommy Aiyok, representing the guardians of the injured students, thanked the kind-hearted people who donated.

The province went into a frenzy on Wednesday after the confrontation by police and the University of Papua New Guinea students in Port Moresby.

People took advantage of the situation, destroying public buildings and property in the town areas. Public transportation was stopped due to owners fearing the destruction of their vehicles. Shopping centres were on a lockdown as well.

Air Niugini flights into the province was also cancelled.

Parents, families and relatives desperately clung to their phones, praying that the next call would confirm that their children are safe. Friends and loved ones waited with bated breaths, struggling to put on a brave front while their hearts were already bleeding out.

Among them was former UPNG biology student Bruce Horick, who lives in Lae, Morobe Province. Their world came to a standstill while students in Port Moresby ran for their lives.

Horick, who graduated in 2013, put pen to paper to express the heartache he felt.