East Timor declares state of emergency amid rioting

East Timor declares state of emergency amid rioting

Agencies Dili

East Timor's cabinet has declared a state of emergency following deadly riots on Wednesday, a cabinet member told Reuters.

He said an emergency cabinet meeting was still under way but that "the president has declared a state of emergency".

That meant police and defense forces had been ordered to clear the streets and could take anyone into custody, he said.

"Things have quietened down but the situation remains tense and there is a heavy (security force) presence on the streets," said the cabinet member, who did not wish to be named.

The meeting comes after violent student protests in the capital Dili in which one witness said five people were killed in clashes with police, and another government official said the house of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri had been burned.

Some government officials said they suspected a radical group known as RDTL was behind the violence, the most serious since East Timor's independence from Indonesia on May 20.

"This is an orchestrated maneuver to topple the government," Rogerio Lobato, the minister of internal affairs, told AFP.

He blamed people linked to RDTL, a hardline nationalist group which has been tied to previous unrest and was not part of the mainstream independence movement during Indonesian occupation.

The protest began on Tuesday after a student was arrested. The reason for the arrest was not immediately clear.

Wednesday's clash broke out in front of police headquarters where dozens of police were on duty, and another witness said some began firing into the crowd. He said those who fired the shots were not in uniform.

The protest then moved to the parliament building two blocks away where shots were also fired.

"The police tried to take the (dead) body from the students but they refused and there was another clash and the students set fire to a supermarket," said the second witness, who did not wish to be identified.

Some politicians had agreed to meet the students outside the parliament early on Wednesday but did not show up, which Jones said may have added to the tension.

"I was in an Internet cafe and the staff here heard there were problems so they shut the windows and we all hid in the back of the shop," John Rouw, an Australian citizen living in Dili, told Reuters by phone.

"When we finally went outside there was a UN Land Rover on fire and a lot of the shop windows were smashed. You can see black smoke on the horizon and we have heard a mosque has been torched but there are a lot of rumors flying around."

President Xanana Gusmao arrived at the police headquarters to try to restore order, but the violence continued, and he was escorted inside the buildings.

The rioting quickly spread to other parts the seaside city.

Mobs set fire to the Australian-owned "Hello Mister" supermarket, which sells mostly imported goods to UN workers and other foreigners in the country. At least one police car also was burned.

They looted nearby shops and hotels, taking televisions and motorbikes.

UN peacekeepers surrounded the parliament building as crowds went on the rampage, vandalizing other buildings in what Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta called a "very serious turn of events".

Ramos-Horta, speaking to Reuters by phone from Madrid, said: "This is a very serious turn of events that has stunned everyone in Dili. We have been used to having a very stable (country) here for the last two and a half years. I believe it will be brought under control today."

A senior parliamentarian was also wounded when the crowd of around 500 students began throwing stones, the witness said.

"At least five were killed and I saw another six people in a minivan being taken to the hospital with really bad injuries," said the witness, a journalist, adding that it was police who opened fire.

"Some (of the protesters) had gunshot wounds and some were beaten."

Civil unrest is not uncommon in the world's newest nation but Wednesday's clash was the most serious yet and a blow to efforts to establish a peaceful democracy.