I have been reading this afternoon, Sunday, comments recorded in a late article published in the Solomon Star newspaper and remarks said to have been made by the claimed M4D President Knoxly Alu.
Mr. Alu in part of the article alluded to his involvement in a “peaceful protest” in Honiara last November. I quote what he had to say.
He said he was negotiating with senior police officers at the time when all of a sudden, police fired teargas causing the crowd to go mad and out of control.
I did not escape from police at the scene, instead I was trying to work together with the police at that very moment to try to calm the situation down,” Atu recalled.
He said using tear gas on Solomon Islanders has a bad record, where he said a vigilant police force should have known this from past experience that Solomon Islanders most times reacted and fought back when tear gassed.
With that, he said police should blame themselves for not acting professionally to calm the crowd; instead they resorted to force to try to scare the public to calm them down, which was totally wrong.
He described the tactic used by police as pouring fuel on fire.
End of quote.
I know from my own experience as then the local commissioner of police how the use of tear gas could provoke a crowd and cause an angry reaction. At a football match being played at Lawson Tama in early 1998, the spectators began to be unruly following a decision made by the referee and they began throwing stones at the referee and at the players they opposed.
The situation soon came ugly and I sensed that any use of tear gas by the then RRU, who were on standby outside the stadium, could have caused the stone throwing mob to advance into Chinatown, which had been a known reaction in previous years.
I ordered the RRU not to use tear gas but to repel the angry mob by calm but forceful persuasion while trying to calm the situation down by disbursing the angry mob into small groups. The tactics worked to the extent there was no invasion into Chinatown, albeit the football match was abandoned and only a few arrested for throwing projectiles.
I was not present in the country in 1996 when, according to a Commission of Inquiry created to look into the rioting at Parliament House, rioting occurred by those present and peacefully assembled to protest at the election of Snyder Rini as the Prime Minister. The Commission of Inquiry finding cited rioting occurred when then attached PPU personnel of the RAMSI Mission used tear gas on the gathered crowd of people without warning. The result of the PPU action in firing tear gas led to the looting and burning of Chinatown also cited in the final report of the Commission of Inquiry.
In early 1999 while being driven alone except for my driver, PC Ronnie, through the centre of Honiara, I came upon a very large assembly of Malaitan people intent on advancing on the then Guadalcanal Province office, housed in the old District Commissioner’s office complex with grievances and clearly displaying anger.
I sensed the situation could easily have got out of control and talking to the angry crowd, I persuaded the several hundred of them to go to the Rove Police Club premises where the then PM and the Guadalcanal President were tactfully persuaded to come to the premises and to talk through the grievances then pressing.
There was no subsequent rioting after the meeting and no advance on Chinatown.
His Honour the Chief Justice, Sir Albert Palmer, recently called for a Commission of Inquiry into last November’s rioting and looting. I support that recommendation and when statements keep coming to light as to how a peaceful assembly turned into as riotous mob, resulting in looting, arson and multi-million property damage, then I hold firm to the view we should know the true facts of the situation,
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
