PNG Police Have Opened Fire on Student Protesters, Allegedly Killing Several

Papua New Guinea police forces have shot and injured university students marching to Parliament House as part of a five week protest campaign against the country's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

The students have been boycotting classes at the University of Papua New Guinea in the capital of Port Moresby, calling on the Prime Minister to face up to corruption and economic mismanagement allegations.

PNG's resource-dependant economy has been badly hit by the falling price of oil over the past few months, fueling anger with the government.

The ABC reports that around 1000 protesting students were attempting to march from the University of Papua New Guinea to Parliament this morning at around 7 AM, but were stopped from leaving campus by police.

Students told local reporters that police attempted to arrest the president of the student council who was leading the protest. When the students intervened, the police fired shots directly into the crowd.

Student Gerald Peni told the ABC that it was possible some students had died, and some were definitely injured. "There were a number of us who have been hurt," Mr Peni said. "Girls and boy altogether, some had cuts on their faces and their legs.

"Two were shot, the boys were shot, so we know that we have two casualties been shot by police."

He described how the police opened fire into the crowd of peacefully protesting students. "They fired shots, they fired shots directly at the crowd," he said. "They fired tear gases, I was right in front.

"And many of the students they fell, they got injured, we don't know how many casualties we may have at the moment."

According to Twitter user @mangiwantok who was present at the scene, two male students may have been fatally injured by the "trigger happy" police.

There is currently some disagreement over the number of fatalities. The Guardian is reporting four students were killed, while the BBC alleged there's been "at least one death." All organisations are currently citing the ABC as their main source.

In early April this year, Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court dismissed an attempt by the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to prevent anti-corruption police from investigating his finances. Anti-corruption police have sought to arrest and interview Peter O'Neill since June 2014, when a corruption watchdog alleged he had expropriated $31 million of public funds.

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