Displaced settlers asked to move out of Omili oval

THE Lae City Council has asked displaced people from 15 Block, at Kamkumung, to move from the Omili Oval.
A city policing spokesman said they had relayed the message to the displaced people who have occupied the road alongside the sports oval following a fight between people from Sepik and Chimbu provinces.
The fight led to the destruction of a large number of homes and property. 
The 300 settlers, mainly from Chimbu, were living in makeshift tents at the Omili fuel station but moved across the road, alongside the Omili oval about a week ago. 
They have been seeking help from relief agencies and government authorities for water containers, food, clothes and medicine after losing most of their possessions when their homes were burnt down.
A member of the city policing unit said yesterday the council wanted them out of the Omili oval area as it was state land.
“Many of these people are unemployed and should return home to their villages instead of hanging around Lae just to sell betel nuts and cigarettes,” he said.
“They contribute to lawlessness in the city and if we keep on entertaining them, Lae will become a cowboy city like Port Moresby where locals and law-abiding citizens play second fiddle to hooligans,” the policeman said.
He said the provincial government and administration should seriously look at allocating money for Morobean youths to police
hotspots around the city where petty crime such as pick-pocketing and harassing of women and girls were daily occurrences that  were still continuing.