Solomon Islands has again gone through chaos after
the recent looting and burning down of a business building by an angry mob in
Honiara on Friday 16 May.
The mob is believed to be disgruntled flood victims
who have been disagreed with the government’s relief package.
Eyewitnesses of the incident said that the men
started putting up road blocks along the King George Road around 6:30pm and
around 7:30pm they broke into a Chinese store, looted it and set the building
on fire around 8:30pm.
The eyewitnesses said it was surprising to see the
police and fire fighters responded very late and arrived after 3 to 4 hours,
and only two fire trucks were at the scene.
The incident questions the ability of the police in
handling and responding to such incidents.
The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force is assisted by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and they are very aware of what is going on
Solomon Islands especially in Honiara.
Regular shop break-ins and unlawful activities have
been happening and this should alert the police to be patrolling the streets
and present everywhere.
Honiara is not a very big city and it should not
take the police too late to response to such incidents.
There were already signs of such incidents which
should alert the police because the flood victims have been raising complains,
making demands and even suspected of break-ins and theft of the computers in
the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) office, which is used as the
evacuation center.
Honiara has gone through rioting and looting over
the past years and there should not be any excuse for the incident to catch the
police by surprise.
It should not take much time for the police to
mobilize its Rapid Response Team because life and properties of the citizens
are in their safe hands and they are expected to be working 24 hours around the
clock.
They have the obligation and duty to the citizens
for life, safety and protection.
Life is changing and Honiara is becoming insecure
because of such lawlessness and disorder so the Royal Solomon Islands Police
Force must pull up their socks to uphold and fully enforce the law.
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| A shop building along the King George Road in Honiara known as Uncle Alick, was looted and burned down by a group of disgruntled men believed to be some flood victims. Eyewitnesses said they were surprised to see the people looted with ease because the was no police until after almost 3 to 4 hours later. The building was set on fire fire after it was emptied. Photo Credit : Face book:Solomon Islands in Pictures |
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