Australia announced on Thursday that it will send a peacekeeping force to the Solomon Islands. New riots hit Honiara, the capital, in the aftermath of an attempt to storm Parliament by protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Several buildings were also set on fire.
Protesters defied the curfew imposed following Wednesday’s incidents, and took to the streets again, targeting police and businesses in the capital’s Chinatown, a resident of Honiara told AFP.
Roadblocks
“There are several crowds moving, it’s very tense,” a resident told AFP who did not wish to be identified, while local media report looting and the use of tear gas by the police.
This witness said that he saw the police setting up roadblocks. Without any sign of lull on the side of the rioters, more than 24 hours after the start of the disturbances in front of Parliament. Hundreds of people demonstrated on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manassah Sogavare, before heading to Honiara’s Chinatown, where they burned down a police station and looted businesses until police intervened. with tear gas.
Taiwan recognition
Following these incidents, Manassah Sogavare ordered an immediate curfew in Honiara, describing the incidents as a “sad and unfortunate event aimed at bringing down a democratically elected government”. Demonstrators from the neighboring island of Malaita are said to have taken part in the violence to protest against the decision, in 2019, to transfer its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
The Solomons had chosen to recognize Taiwan in 1983, and many residents of Malaita had close ties with Taipei. The government of this island has regularly criticized Honiara for having approached Beijing in this way.
Australia had already intervened
This Pacific archipelago, independent from Great Britain since 1978, had sunk into inter-ethnic violence in the early 2000s. New tensions led to the deployment between 2003 and 2013 of a peace force led by Australia .
Riots broke out in Honiara’s Chinatown during the 2006 legislative elections, following rumors that companies close to Beijing had rigged the vote. Opposition leader Matthew Wale urged Manassah Sogavare to resign, assuring that the unrest would not end with a police-framed curfew.
“Unfortunately, the frustrations and the anger returned by the people against the Prime Minister are spreading uncontrollably in the streets, where opportunists are taking advantage of the situation,” he said in a statement obtained by AFP.