Protesters tried to storm the prime minister’s residence, and he blamed the central government’s 2019 decision to switch allegiances to Beijing from Taipei for the violence.
Protesters in the Solomon Islands tried to storm the personal residence of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday, setting a building nearby on fire. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowds as riots rocked the nation’s capital for the third straight day.
The police also fired shots elsewhere in the capital, Honiara, to scatter protesters, according to local reporters, as antigovernment demonstrators called for Mr. Sogavare’s resignation. The police said they had arrested two people, and sought to quell speculation that officers had killed the arrestees.
On Friday afternoon, the authorities announced that a 6 a.m.-to-7 p.m. curfew in Honiara would continue indefinitely. Papua New Guinea also committed to sending peacekeeping troops to the Solomon Islands, according to local news media, after police officers from Australia arrived in the capital on Thursday night. Mr. Sogavare had requested security assistance, Australia’s prime minister said.
Many of the protesters had traveled from the island of Malaita to Guadalcanal Island, which houses the nation’s capital, according to officials and local news reports.
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