Papuan refugees who fled Indonesia more than 20 years ago have camped with their families outside the United Nations refugee office in Port Moresby demanding haven in a third country.
Their protest was prompted by their impending eviction from 8 Mile settlement on the Papua New Guinea capital's outskirts, where the refugee group has lived since squatting there in 1987.
On Saturday, police raided the settlement to hack down banana plants as a warning to residents they must leave their homes or face forced eviction.
On Monday morning about 90 men, women and children were camped with their belongings outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office with another 120 expected to arrive later.
Group spokesman Freddy Waromi said they would ask UNHCR officials to arrange deportation for them to a third country.
Their eviction from their homes meant they had nowhere to stay and no alternative had been offered by authorities, he said.
"We are evicted from 8 Mile by the government without recognising its obligation to the UN refugee convention to protect us as refugees in this country."
Waromi said residents at 8 Mile were divided and some had elected to stay, including those keen to negotiate a return to Indonesian Papua.
He said he and many others fled Papua in the 1980s to avoid persecution by Indonesian authorities as Melanesian Papuans agitated for independence.
The land at 8 Mile was acquired in 1991 by politician Peter Lus who granted the settlers a grace period to stay on.
Lus, a former PNG cabinet minister, now wants to bring developers in to build a residential estate.
Waromi said the city's new governor, Powes Parkop, talked to 8 Mile leaders on the weekend, telling them he would speak to Lands Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu to find a solution.
