PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Police have blockaded Papua New Guinea’s Parliament to prevent lawmakers from entering after the South Pacific island nation’s chief justice was charged with sedition.
The 30 officers said Friday they will not allow Parliament to sit until after June elections.
The blockade is a reaction to Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah leading officers on Thursday in the arrest of Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia.
Injia appeared in a court on Friday charged with sedition. He did not enter a plea.
He was one of three judges who on Monday ruled that ousted leader Sir Michael Somare was the nation’s legitimate prime minister and not the man elected by a majority of lawmakers last year, Peter O’Neill.
