Papua New Guinea hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last week.

The officers understood they would not be paid their $104 bonus for the work done during the international summit, according to police chief Dominic Kakas. However, police chiefs said they had been misled.

The chief told CNN: “A group of police were disgruntled over allowances and this morning they were misled.

“They were thinking they would not be paid their allowances for their security work during the APEC summit.”

He added that they had been “breaking glass and destroying items” in the entrance to parliament.

“Police are on the scene now, trying to establish whether assaults have also taken place,” Kakas told CNN.

According to a government official, damage had been done to the buildings “despite the government having already paid 50% of all their allowances and the invoice only received today for the remaining amount”.

The government had bought 40 luxury cars for the summit, attended by delegates from 21 countries, including Chinese president Xi Jinping and US vice president Mike Pence.