Rosso: Barbaric acts won’t be tolerated in Lae

The Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Lae John Rosso, has come out to strongly condemn yesterday's violent killing that occurred at Lae's 1 mile Boundary Road area.

He has described the killing as unacceptable and warned that such barbaric acts will not be tolerated in the city.

"I will not tolerate barbaric attitudes being brought into my city. Pasin blo kilim man nating (the practice of killing another person without cause) is not acceptable in Lae."

The Lae MP's statement follows an ethnic clash between two factions yesterday, that resulted in four people being ruthlessly killed, 3 of which included a Grade 7 student were runover by a vehicle before they were hacked to death with bush knives.

Rosso pledged that police will act swiftly to identify, arrest and prosecute all those responsible, exercising the full force of law.

"We will not sweep this under the carpet. Whoever is involved will be prosecuted. If they are identified and we know where they reside, we will not tolerate them living amongst us. They will be evicted," he said.

The Lae MP went on to issue a strong warning to outsiders bringing violence and tribal conflict into Lae City.

"You noken karim pipia pasin kam long Lae [Do not bring your rubbish behavior to Lae]. Tribal, murderous behavior will not be tolerated."

Rosso is now urging the public to allow for police to carry out their investigations, to identify the culprits from both sides, arrest and have them prosecuted accordingly.

Meantime, Lae's Metropolitan Commander, Chief Superintendent Chris Kunyanban has confirmed, that police have already arrested and locked up 4 suspects, two from each ethnic group, including the driver and crew of the vehicle who ran over the 3 people yesterday.

The Police Boss is also appealing to all schools within Lae City to consult his office, before opening their gates for students to attend classes.