Police fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of Papuans who protested outside the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby to demand recognition as Australian citizens.
The peaceful rally turned nasty after Papua New Guinea police ordered the crowd to move on and began manhandling protesters to get them to leave the high commission's car park. The crowd eventually dispersed but some protesters were injured in scuffles with police.
Australian Papuan Community coordinator Jonathan Baure said the protesters wanted Australia to recognise that Papuans were not given a choice to remain Australians when PNG became independent in 1975.
The rally was in response to a call from the High Commission for all Australian citizens to register at the commission's offices so they could be readily found in emergencies.
Several hundred Papuans, some displaying Australian Papuan flags, gathered in the car park outside the commission's steel gates to listen to speeches this morning.
Baure said that as Papuans in PNG they were still Australian citizens and there had never been a referendum in Papua to legally sever ties with Australia.
Papua, covering what is now the southern half of the PNG mainland, became an Australian territory under the Papua Act of 1905 and Papuan-born people acquired Australian citizenship under Australia's 1948 Citizen Act.
Baure said the people of former New Guinea covering the islands, highlands and northern coastal regions outnumbered Papuans three to one in the lead-up to independence but did not have the right to decide that Papuans should lose their Australian citizenship. "We want Australia to come back and govern us, we want them to give our grandchildren a better opportunity. We don't care about neocolonialism," he said.
There was too much corruption in PNG and Papuans felt dominated by New Guineans, Baure said. He warned of future frictions between Papuans and New Guineans which could prove a problem for Australia.
A high commission spokeswoman said two senior officials spoke to protest leaders and explained that a High Court ruling in Australia last year upheld laws that Papuans ceased to be Australian citizens when PNG became independent. "We are not expecting difficulties. Our hope is they remain peaceful and move on," she said.
The official said the protesters were not entitled to register as Australian citizens by descent.
"There are some exceptions depending on the age of the person at the time of independence and whether at the time of independence they had a right to permanent residence in Australia or to some other foreign citizenship."
They were welcome to apply by filling out the forms and paying the normal fee, the official said.
Baure said his group had collected 73,000 signatures on a petition and aimed to get 500,000 to take to the United Nations to urge a referendum on Papuans being granted Australian citizenship.