Unitech Students burn Vehicle in protest

The University of Technology students burnt vehicles at the University campus after Police denied their planned protest march. 

Albert Schram, the vice-chancellor of PNG University of Technology told ABC that about 2,000 students and staff had been locked on campus with a police car at the gates.

He told Pacific Beat the police fired in the air when students pushed on the gates.

Despite the incident, Mr Schram said the situation remained calm on campus and police had been asked to move away to keep it that way.

"We want them to get out of here as soon as possible because they're just being an easy target for angry students, and they're not contributing anything to solving this situation," he said.

Meanwhile, in Port Moresby, four students were shot and one reportedly dead while 3 in critical condition  when police opened fire on  protesting university students in Port Moresby today.

The protesting students attempted to march from the University of Papua New Guinea to Parliament  House this morning, but police stopped them leaving the campus.

The students have been protesting for five weeks against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's handling of corruption allegations and management of the economy.

They said about 1,000 of them had tried to board buses at 7:00am to hold a peaceful demonstration outside the PNG Parliament, but were stopped by police.

When they tried to march to Parliament instead, they said a line of police blocked their path and demanded they hand over the student union president for arrest.

The students refused and said police then opened fire directly into the crowd.