[Easttimorstudies] Fwd: [ETSA] Fwd: Dili has NO riots or lockdown

[Ismenio martins]

> 
> Friends overseas interested in Timor-Leste,
> 
> I don't know where the foreign reporters are getting
> their
> "information" from , but the article below and
> others similar to it
> are sensationalistic exaggerations of the situation
> here in Dili.
> Although there has been some vandalism, there are no
> riots, no
> lockdown, and no "tight security."  Activities
> continue as normal,
> people going to work, taxis and other public
> transport operating as
> usual, people out and about in every part of the
> city. The few
> incidents of people being injured during the past
> week are routine for
> Dili and cities around the world -- drunk youths at
> parties,
> conflicting martial arts groups -- with no relation
> to the current
> controversy about the 591 people dismissed from the
> military.
> 
> It's true that some people are afraid, and staying
> in their homes more
> than usual. Part of this is due to fearmongering by
> the media, Dili's
> unparalleled rumor system, and the fact that the
> great majority of
> Timorese people live with post-traumatic stress from
> 24 years of war
> and occupation, capped by "black September" 1999.
> 
> A few stores are closed, some markets are receiving
> fewer customers
> than usual, but this is far from a "lockdown" or
> panic situation. I
> urge local and international journalists and
> international agencies
> who read this list to be more responsible than the
> coverage
> exemplified by the article below, which,
> unfortunately, is typical of
> recent foreign press coverage. The people of
> Timor-Leste have endured
> enough physical violence over the years -- please
> don't exacerbate
> their stress and panic at this admittedly difficult
> time.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Charlie Scheiner, La'o Hamutuk, Dili, Timor-Leste 
> +670-723-4335
> 
> At 07:27 AM 3/29/2006, you wrote:
> 
> East Timorese capital in lockdown after weekend riot
> 
> DILI, March 28 (AFP) -- East Timor's capital was
> under tight security
> Tuesday as shops shut, public transport dwindled and
> some people
> sought refuge in a church after mobs went on a
> weekend rampage.
> 
> Police fanned out across the capital after the gangs
> -- thought to be
> drawn from nearly 600 recently dismissed soldiers --
> ran amok Saturday
> night, looting shops and battling opposing groups of
> soldiers in
> several areas.
> 
> Shop owners were seen packing their goods and
> leaving for other
> districts while more than 60 people sought refuge at
> a church in
> Comoro on the outskirts of Dili, citing fears for
> their safety.
> 
> "We left our homes because they threatened to harm
> us if we stay," one
> of the refugees at Santa Auxilia Dora church, who
> refused to give his
> name, told AFP.
> 
> One patrolling policeman was stabbed and seriously
> wounded at Comoro
> but the attacker fled despite police firing shots, a
> witness who gave
> his name as Anthony told AFP.
> 
> Dili was tense with many students stranded and
> unable to sit mid-term
> exams.
> 
> Two people were arrested for possessing crude
> weapons in a security
> sweep led directly by Home Affairs Minister Rogerio
> Lobato.
> 
> Gastao Salsinha, the leader of the 591 soldiers
> dismissed after they
> deserted claiming nepotism and poor working
> conditions, accused police
> of arresting 12 of his comrades arbitrarily.
> 
> "The PNTL (East Timor police) have arrested 12 of my
> colleagues even
> though they were not involved in the riots,"
> Salsinha, who accused
> those still in the military of instigating the
> unrest, told AFP.
> 
> "I want to assure you that until now we still have
> discipline and have
> no intention of creating instability in the
> country," he added.
> 
> East Timorese police commissioner Paulo Fatima
> Martins said only four
> people had been arrested, two of whom were dismissed
> soldiers.
> 
>
***********************************************************
> Charles Scheiner
> La'o Hamutuk (The East Timor Institute for
> Reconstruction Monitoring
> and Analysis)
> P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste
> Telephone:  +670-3325013 or +670-7234335  (mobile)
> email: charlie at laohamutuk.org    website:
> http://www.laohamutuk.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [This message was distributed via the east-timor
> news list. Write
> info at etan.org.]
> 
> 
> 
> --
> *************************************
> http://liaharoman.blogspot.com/
> *************************************
> 


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