ANGRY police, military and prison guards stormed Papua New Guinea’s parliament today over a pay dispute stemming from a weekend international summit hosted by the impoverished nation.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting was attended by, among others, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, US Vice-President Mike Pence, for whom the irate state personnel provided security.

Social media images of the parliament showed broken windows, smashed furniture, pictures torn from walls and plants tipped over.

The building’s security checkpoint, including a metal detector, was smashed and doors were destroyed along with their fingerprint-reading locking systems.

Opposition MP Bryan Kramer said the protesters had not been paid their promised allowances for their security work at the Pacific Rim leaders’ summit held in Port Moresby.

The World Bank has described the city as among the world’s most violent due to high unemployment and criminal gangs known as “raskols.”

When the protesters tried to enter parliament, “there was a confrontation between parliament security and members of the security forces,” Mr Kramer said. “It erupted into a scuffle, several staff were assaulted as they made their way into parliament.”

Following the rampage, more than 100 police, military personnel and prison guards waited outside parliament demanding to be addressed by the government about their allowances, but they eventually left the area.

Working police later provided security for parliamentary staff in the building and patrolled surrounding streets.

The violence coincided with reports of looting of surrounding businesses, as criminals took advantage of the breakdown in law and order.