A special magistrate court is sitting to begin processing the 189 male suspects allegedly involved in the burning down and property damage in Maprik town, in East Sepik Province following Tuesday's incident. It is expected that around 600 individuals will be arrested and charged over the next few weeks, according to an update from East Sepik Governor Allan Bird in a statement. He said additional police was arriving on Wednesday in Wewak, and the Provincial Police Commander Superintendent Christopher Tamari has been requested to pay attention to this incident, including all outstanding police matters around the province like the mass rape and killings in Angoram. "Police from Wewak, Yangoru, Wosera and Drekikia all responded to the situation in Maprik," he said. Governor Bird said all ESP leaders have agreed to pull resources together to support the Boram Correctional Services with temporary facilities in the ensuing weeks with the additional arrests to be made. Tuesday's incident is a flare up of events which transpired on Monday, August 5th, as explained by Governor Bird in his statement. "On Monday, around 3pm, 2 unknown people entered the property of Peter Simon, a local businessman and brother of former MP, John Simon." "They set fire to 4 of his dump trucks. Police were alerted and attended to commence investigations." "Yesterday (Tuesday), around 6am, family and relatives of the Simon family arrived in town in 5 vehicles." "A rampage ensued in Old Town Maprik - three houses were set on fire; two 5 seated buses and other houses were looted." " Maprik Police intervened but they were attacked by wire catapult and had to retreat." "The surrounding villagers came to the aid of Police and started attacking the group that came into town." "In the ensuing retaliatory attack, property belonging to the Simon family was burnt to the ground.” “As of this morning, Police are now trying to protect the remaining property belonging to the Simon family." "So far, no other property has been affected by the violence," said Governor Bird. "Both John and Peter Simon were not in the province at the time of the attacks." The 189 suspects were detailed on Tuesday night, and police on Wednesday morning prevented Maprik youth from further destroying remaining property of the Simon family. "ESP MPs met this morning (Wednesday) and strongly condemned the violence," Governor Bird further expressed. "The leaders also welcomed the reappointment of PPC Tamari who resumed duty the day of the attack." "ESP MPs also commended the work of the Police yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) in Maprik and we also deeply regret the pain caused to all families including the Simons." "The administration will be doing all it can to support the displaced families." "Our people must also note that we have limited capacity because we have expended significant resources on the natural disaster, we are still dealing with victims of Kanda, YS and now Maprik." Addressing the policing issue in the country, Governor Bird said, "Since the PPC was sidelined in January, police morale and command and control has deteriorated significantly - this has led to the escalation of law-and-order issues in ESP." "Our people must allow police to deal with law enforcement and not try to take matters into their own hands." “All perpetrators will be arrested and processed, from Angoram to Westcoast, Yangoru, Wosera, Maprik and Drekikia over the next 30 days." "In the meantime, we request all our community leaders and people to be patient and support the efforts of our law enforcement agencies currently in the province," the Governor appealed to his people. "Please do not take the law into your own hands. This could lead to much greater harm as we are now seeing in Maprik." "The situation in Maprik is tense but calm." "We need peace, tolerance and harmony to return to our communities." "That will require everyone to exercise restraint and allow law enforcement to do their work."