Chuave locals clash with police

By ZACHERY PER
A YOUNG mother sustained a gunshot wound when the Goroka-based Mobile Squad 14 and Police Task Force members were attacked as they attempted to serve an election petition in Chuave, Chimbu, yesterday.
Former Chuave MP Jim Nomane had engaged police to serve an election petition on Chuave MP
Wera Mori.
When police entered the Chuave district office yesterday, Mori was addressing some people.
Sensing that Goroka police, who arrived in two vehicles, were there to deliver the petition, some people attacked the police.
Witnesses said the people overpowered the  police and smashed the windscreen of one of the vehicles. Police then fired shots to disperse the crowd.
In the course of the action, a shot fired was said to have hit a 25-year-old mother on the left side of her head.
She was identified as Wari Kaupa from Keu village at the foot of Mt Elimbari.
Kaupa was treated at the Chuave District Hospital and released.
Mori intervened and quelled
the situation.
He said Goroka police were his friends and urged them to stop immediately.
He said if Nomane wanted to serve the petition, he should have come as Chuave was his area.
“I am always here in Chuave. Nomane should not fear anything and must come in person to serve the petition,” Mori said.
Meanwhile, Eastern Highlands provincial police commander Supt John Kale criticised the action of the people, saying police were only trying to do their job.
“I do not accept the conduct of the people, they should have respected the police to do their job. The election has been won and the candidate had the right to petition,” he said.