A protest against the Nauruan government has broken out outside the country’s parliament, leading to the arrest of opposition MP Mathew Batsieu.
The protest follows allegations that place the president, Baron Waqa, and justice minister, David Adeang, at the centre of bribery claims, after the the ABC published extracts from emails that appear to suggest that both men were allegedly bribed by Australian mining company Getax.
The Nauruan parliament is sitting on Tuesday, but was suspended briefly due to noise from the protest.
Pictures obtained by Guardian Australia show some of the protesters gathered blocking the entry to the Nauruan parliament. The Nauruan citizens were demanding to speak with Nauruan politicians, according to a source at the protest.
Several hundred Nauruans were present, and when police arrived the group gradually dispersed.
Nauruans have become increasingly disenchanted with the government in the past two years, with former magistrate Peter Law saying it had led to a serious breakdown in the rule of law. In 2014 all opposition MPs were suspended from the Nauruan parliament.
Concerns continue to be raised about Nauru internationally, after the blocking of several websites including Facebook and the recent deportation of the general manager of telecommunications provider Digicell.
The government also blocked the entry of Australian barrister Jay Williams, who was set to appear in two significant legal cases on the island.
Former president Sprent Dadwibo said the government was paranoid about independent media scrutiny.
The protest is also likely to serve as a test of new laws that could see political protesters jailed for up to 10 years. The laws have been criticised by the United Nations as a serious attack on freedom of expression.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon the Nauruan government confirmed the arrest of Batsieu on a charge of “disrupting the legislature”. President Baron Waqa described the behaviour as “disgraceful”.
