3 bodies found could be linked to protests in Solomon Islands

MELBOURNE, Australia – After days of riots in the Solomon Islands in which protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, torched buildings and looted shops, authorities said on Saturday they found the bodies of three people in a burnt down building.

These are the first deaths reported after days of violent protests in Honiara, the country’s capital. The three bodies, which were burned, were found in the remains of a store in the Chinatown neighborhood, a police spokesperson said. Police were investigating the deaths, he said.

It is not known whether the deaths are directly linked to the protests, but they come after Chinese officials urged Solomon Islands to protect Chinese citizens and businesses. Honiara’s Chinatown was one of the areas most targeted by protesters.

The decision by the central government of the Solomon Islands to transfer diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in 2019 has been the driving force behind the protests, experts say, with the move exacerbating the social and political fault lines dividing the nation.

Many protesters came from Malaita, the country’s most populous island, to Guadalcanal Island, where the capital is located. The strained relationship between the two islands, due to a perceived unequal distribution of economic resources and development that has made Malaita one of the poorest provinces in the country, dates back decades. Its provincial government has maintained relations with Taiwan in violation of the central government’s decision to diplomatically align with Beijing.

A planned protest turned violent on Wednesday when protesters stormed parliament calling for Mr Sogavare’s resignation. In the streets, they clashed with police, who used tear gas and fired shots. Protesters torched a police station, a high school and numerous buildings in Chinatown. They looted shops and attempted to ransack Mr. Sogavare’s personal residence before being pushed back by the police.

As protests raged, opposition parliamentarians and Daniel Suidani, Prime Minister of Malaita, stepped up calls for Sogavare’s resignation. But he refused, saying: “If I am removed from my post as Prime Minister, it will be on the floor of Parliament. “

The Chinese Embassy has called on Chinese residents in Honiara to shut down their businesses and hire security guards, while a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry noted that China “take all necessary measures to protect the security and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and institutions in the Solomon Islands.”

The police noted Saturday that they had arrested more than 100 people in connection with the riots, the police chief called on the inhabitants to “respect each other, as well as our foreign friends visiting”.

As of Saturday morning, the riots had largely stopped and the streets were quiet, according to local reporters and social media, with police and peacekeepers patrolling the streets. Australia sent around 100 police and soldiers on Thursday and Friday to help stabilize the situation, and Papua New Guinea sent 35 police and correctional officers on Friday.

More than 1,500 Asian migrants have reportedly been displaced by the unrest, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.