{"id":407957,"date":"2021-11-28T03:46:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T03:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=66869"},"modified":"2021-11-28T03:46:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T03:46:45","slug":"solomon-islands-the-painful-reality-my-day-on-the-road-in-honiara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/11\/28\/solomon-islands-the-painful-reality-my-day-on-the-road-in-honiara\/","title":{"rendered":"Solomon Islands: The painful reality \u2013 my day on the road in Honiara"},"content":{"rendered":"
SPECIAL REPORT:<\/strong> By Robert Iroga in Honiara<\/em><\/p>\n Honiara residents walked for long distances to find shops and ATMs today with fewer or nor public transport available and the city shops were either closed or in ruins after two days of chaotic rioting and looting.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s painful reality was what the city dwellers woke up to after a 36-hour lockdown following two days of heartless riots and looting that left shops, a school, police stations either looted or burned to the ground in the east and central of the city.<\/p>\n Among those who walked the distance was Lilly and her husband who toiled the road to Point Cruz from Vura only to realise the ANZ ATM had no money.<\/p>\n Next to the couple on the queue was another woman who looked so frail; she too had no money and was hurrying to withdraw her final SI$300 (about NZ$55) only to find the machine was empty. The mother was bitterly disappointed and I could see the agony in her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cI have nothing to eat. I needed to buy a small bag of rice for my kids who have not been eating since last night. We were never prepared for the lockdown,\u201d she lamented.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, I am hungry, what\u2019s going on,\u201d she could be heard speaking in a soft-voice.<\/p>\n Weng Neili \u7fc1\u5185\u5229 Solomons Fujian Assoc: \u201c…all the shops in Chinatown have been burned & looted…The riots are more serious than in 2006, because they attacked indiscriminately this time, burning & looting schools, banks, & breweries\u201d #honiarariots<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/tT8PjV81DU<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9BpMZ0NZiK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Professor Anne-Marie Brady (@Anne_MarieBrady) November 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
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