PNG Police claims of peaceful resettlement refuted

Transcript

A United Kingdom research centre is refuting claims by the Papua New Guinea police that a Paga Hill community was resettled peacefully.

About 300 people were moved from Paga Hill to Six Mile on June the 1st.

Dr Kristian Lasslett of the UK based International State Crime Initiative told Christopher Gilbert he's heard multiple accounts of violence from first hand sources at Paga Hill.

KRISTIAN LASSLETT: Police arrived, they were armed with guns. They were accompanied by plain clothed young men who were armed with axes and bush knives. I'm not saying they were police but they certainly intimidated residents and threatened residents. Now, the deputy commissioner has cast doubt over this version of events that's been supplied to us. However in response to that I'd suggest that what happened is part of a pattern, a historical pattern at Paga Hill, where we've seen an eviction before in May 2012. Bulldozers were brought in and demolished homes. Police had automatic firearms and used them. That was caught on film. On this occasion the police told the citizens no one was allowed to take images and when one resident tried to, their phone camera was confiscated.

CHRISTOPHER GILBERT: The proof of that is from these witnesses is it? Because police are saying that they were not armed with bush knives or axes as reported, the men did not enter any of the houses, they did not destroy any of the buildings. There's also reports that a lot the residents were quite content with how the whole matter was carried out.

KL: Yeah I mean I think there's a couple of points there. Firstly, I have no doubt that some tenants voluntarily left and they left on the promise that there were blocks of land purchased for them at Six Mile. Now, Six Mile can't be purchased it's customary land! Secondly, I'd suggest that there's been multiple accounts from reliable sources that police were there with guns, they were intimidating residents, but the people holding axes and knives were indeed plain clothed men. Now, the police deputy commissioner has said that his officers do not run around with knives. That is true at Paga Hill but I've got photos of a police officer with a large serrated knife holding it at the neck of a suspect that's been tortured. So, if the deputy commissioner believes this is not happening in his police force he is absolutely wrong.

CG: Ok, I want to touch on Joe Moses. The Deputy Commissioner says that the claim he's hiding from police in fear of his life is preposterous.

KL: In the first eviction exercise in May 2012 Joe Moses' home was the first to be demolished. Joe Moses is an anthropologist, he is a university administrator. It's very curious that the police now have actually gone to the unprecedented length of issuing a media release and going into the newspapers because there was an allegation that he had discharged a firearm in a community. He's afraid for his life. He's unlikely to hand himself in to the police because he doesn't own a gun. That's according to Joe and that's according to neighbours of Joe. So he's extraordinarily suspicious that this is a set up and that he will end up dead in a ditch somewhere, which the police have done before.