[Onthebarricades] EAST TIMOR: Insurgent youths clash with Aussie goons

[Andy]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22203973-2703,00.html

Diggers use tear gas on E Timor rioters

AUSTRALIAN troops fired tear gas at gangs in East Timor today after violence greeted Xanana Gusmao's appointment as prime minister.

In the country's second city Baucau, armed UN riot police were battling mobs of pro-Fretilin youths who had set fire to several government buildings, police sources said yesterday. 

The situation across East Timor remained volatile last night, they said. 

Armoured personnel carriers loaded with heavily armed Australian troops patrolled trouble spots across the city including a Fretilin controlled refugee camp near Dili airport. 

UN police road blocks were thrown up around the city centre checking for illegal weapons. 

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday welcomed the appointment of a Gusmao-led government and appealed for East Timorese protestors to raise their concerns through parliament and not the streets. 

"The streets - rock throwing, shooting rifles and pistols - is not a way to deal with political disagreements and we would urge the East Timorese to respect the constitutional processes of the country and its institutions," Mr Downer told Sky TV. 

East Timor Defence Force soldiers were also assisting with security enforcement in the capital, a UN spokeswoman said yesterday. 

"They're (gangs of youths) throwing rocks at everyone. The situation is volatile. 

"We're seeing quite a bit of rock throwing around the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and other parts of the city," she said. 

Violence flared one day after President Jose Ramos Horta's decision to appoint a Gusmao-led CNRT coalition, a decision Fretilin branded as unconstitutional. 

Pro-Fretilin gangs torched houses in eastern Bacau and Dili including the country's main tax and customs office at Dili port. 

Crack Portuguese riot police had secured the facility yesterday morning. Other police had established static security outside government buildings. 

There were also reports of rock throwing near Dili airport this morning soon after the arrival of an Air North flight from Darwin. 

"The Aussie cops are out in all their gear clearing burning tyres off the (main airport) road. 

"I've seen four APC's (armoured personnel carriers) loaded with Australian troops heading west from the heliport. 

"There's broken glass strewn all over the road near the Leader store (on the airport road). The Customs building is totalled - it's still smouldering and there are GNR (Portugese riot police) standing outside at the port entrance," said an Australian businessman on a drive around the capital yesterday. 

Asking to be called by his first name "Bruce" he spoke by mobile phone to The Australian as he drove around the worst hit parts of the capital. 

Tension had been building for the past week with Fretilin warning President Horta not to proceed and appoint a Gusmao-led government because it would be against the constitution. 

But on Monday, President Horta moved to end a five-week political stalemate by appointing the former president and guerilla leader prime minister to lead a coalition of parties. 

Fretilin, under former Prime Minister Dr Mari Alkatiri won 21 seats in the June parliamentary elections, short of the 51 required to rule in their own right. 

Its main rival, the CNRT Party led by Mr Gusmao, won 18 seats but secured support from minor parties that boosted its total to 37 seats in the 65-seat legislature. 

Head of the UN in East Timor, Atul Khare, has welcomed the formation of the new government and warned Fretilin supporters against acts of violence. 

"A criminal act in the name of a political cause is still a criminal act, and will be dealt with firmly," he said.
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