Policeman injured in fight with public

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 16th December 2011

A policeman was injured and others fled at the Waigani market area after they were attacked by a vehicle owner and by-standers.
Eyewitness Daniel Busu said a policeman saw that the vehicle owner had not parked his vehicle properly and went to remind him – then  he discovered that the vehicle was unregistered.
He said instead of taking the man to the police station for questioning, the officer kicked the man in the groin in front of the public.
He said the man reacted by punching the policeman and the crowd joined in and chased the other officers.
The policemen took cover at the nearby Waigani police station and called for back-up.
Busu said minutes later members of the mobile squad 04 surrounded the market and chased the vendors away before setting alight their stalls.
Joseph Tarakali, who claimed to speak for the vendors, condemned the actions of the police, saying the problem was between two people but police had behaved inappropriately by attacking the vendors.