Journalist threatened with hand grenade in New Guinea

A journalist covering a dispute over a gas pipeline in Papua New Guinea was threatened by an armed police officer brandishing a hand grenade. Patrick Talu, the business editor of the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, said the threat occurred during a skirmish between protesters and police. When he began to film the incident an officer armed with a rifle showed him a grenade and told him: "Go away, I will blow you up." Another officer referred to a front-page photo in the previous day's Post-Courier depicting a clash between police and landowners, telling Talu: "You newspapers are painting a bad picture of us policemen." The siting of the controversial pipeline, which will run across three of the PNG's provinces, has been opposed by landowners who have held protest meetings in the capital, Port Moresby. PNG's police commissioner Tom Kulunga later said the police officer's action was unacceptable.