Australia sends troops and police to Solomon Islands amid unrest

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Australia is sending police&comma; troops and diplomats to the Solomon Islands to help after anti-government demonstrators defied lockdown orders and took to the streets for a second day in violent protests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the deployment would include a detachment of 23 federal police officers and up to 50 more to provide security at critical infrastructure sites&comma; as well as 43 defence force personnel&comma; a patrol boat and at least five diplomats&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first personnel are due to arrive on Thursday night with more on Friday&comma; and the deployment was expected to last for a few weeks&comma; Mr Morrison said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our purpose here is to provide stability and security&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare declared a lockdown on Wednesday after about 1&comma;000 people gathered in protest in the capital Honiara demanding his resignation over a host of domestic issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The protesters breached the National Parliament building and burned the thatched roof of a nearby building&comma; the government said&period; They also set fire to a police station and other buildings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They were intent on destroying our nation and… the trust that was slowly building among our people&comma;” the government said in a statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Morrison said Mr Sogavare had requested assistance from Australia amid the violence under a bilateral security treaty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is not the Australian government’s intention in any way to intervene in the internal affairs of the Solomon Islands&period; That is for them to resolve&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our presence there does not indicate any position on the internal issues of the Solomon Islands&comma;” Mr Morrison added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Sogavare ordered the capital to be locked down from 7pm on Wednesday through to 7pm on Friday after saying he had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;witnessed another sad and unfortunate event aimed at bringing a democratically elected government down”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I had honestly thought that we had gone past the darkest days in the history of our country&comma;” he said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;However&comma; today’s events are a painful reminder that we have a long way to go&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite an announcement from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force that it would be conducting increased patrols through Honiara amid the lockdown&comma; protesters again took to the streets on Thursday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Local journalist Gina Kekea posted photos on Twitter of a bank&comma; shops and a school in flames&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Morrison said he decided to send help after it became clear that police were &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;stretched”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Sogavare angered many in 2019&comma; particularly leaders of the Solomon Islands’ most populous province Malaita&comma; when he cut the country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan&comma; switching its diplomatic allegiance to China instead&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Local media reported that many of the protesters were from Malaita&comma; whose premier Daniel Suidani has been at odds with Mr Sogavare&comma; who he accuses of being too close to Beijing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Suidani said he was not responsible for the violence in Honiara&comma; but told the Solomon Star News that he agreed with the calls for Mr Sogavare to resign&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over the last 20 years Mannaseh Sogavare has been in power&comma; the plight of Solomon Islanders has worsened whilst at the same time foreigners have reaped the best of the country’s resources&comma;” Mr Suidani was quoted as saying&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;People are not blind to this and do not want to be cheated anymore&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed12121a87d">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; 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