Protests rocked the capital of the Solomon Islands on Thursday as people clashed with police and demanded that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare resign. Some set buildings ablaze and looted stores.
Protesters were met by police tear gas and rubber bullets Wednesday after they stormed the national Parliament in the capital, Honiara, and set a police station and buildings in Chinatown on fire, authorities said. On Thursday, more buildings went up in flames. Outnumbered, police set up a heavily guarded barricade to stop demonstrators from entering the city’s main business district.
On Thursday afternoon, the Australian government announced that, after a request for assistance from Sogavare, it would send a peacekeeping force to the Solomon Islands.