E. Timorese remember massacre, demand international probe
E. Timorese remember massacre, demand international probe
Associated Press, Dili
Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday to remember the victims
of one of East Timor's worst massacres under Indonesian rule with
a moment of silence and flowers as well as demands for an
investigation to find the perpetrators.
The Nov. 12, 1991 massacre of more than 200 people at the
Santa Cruz cemetery in the capital Dili was secretly caught on
video and broadcast around the world. It galvanized opposition to
Indonesia's brutal 24-year rule of East Timor that ended eight
years later with United Nations intervention.
"Today we are here to remember the martyrs, the heroes who
gave their lives for the liberation of this nation," Foreign
Minister Jose Ramos-Horta told a crowd of nearly 3,000.
"Young people should prepare themselves to study and work hard
to build this country and continue the struggle that has been
laid by the heroes," he said.
Nov. 12 was declared a national holiday in East Timor and all
government offices were closed.
During an emotional ceremony, the nation's flag was raised to
honor the Santa Cruz victims followed by a one-minute moment of
silence.
The crowd -- mostly young people and relatives of the victims
-- then marched to the nearby Santa Cruz cemetery. Officials laid
flowers at the site of the massacre and families called for
justice for their loved ones.
Dressed in black, many of the mourners carried banners that
called for the United Nations to set up a tribunal to investigate
the killings.
More than 200 people were killed at the Santa Cruz cemetery,
after soldiers shot into a crowd that was protesting the killing
of a pro-independence activist by the military.
The event symbolized Indonesia's ruthless occupation of East
Timor that started with an invasion in 1975 and ended in 1999,
when Indonesian troops and their proxy militias killed 1,500 and
destroyed much of the half-island after voters approved an
independence referendum.
Indonesia set up its own rights court to investigate the 1999
violence, that ended only after the deployment of an Australia-
led foreign peacekeeping force.
The Indonesian court has been widely condemned as a sham,
convicting only six of 18 Indonesian government and military
officials. All remain free pending their appeals.
The court's mandate did not include the 1991 killings and none
of those convicted were linked to the Santa Cruz massacre.