NZers fear further unrest in Timor

6.00pm

DILI - New Zealanders in East Timor fear more unrest could follow after riots in the capital, Dili, left two people dead yesterday.

The fledgling nation suffered its worst violence since gaining independence in May this year, after police fired on student protesters, sparking a rampage of looting and arson that saw the prime minister's house burned to the ground.

"I would doubt that this is the end of it," ex-patriot New Zealander Richard Bennett said today.

Mr Bennett works as deputy director of human rights for the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNMISET).

"I think it's been building up for weeks and it's probably not a one-off. It is predicted there might be another demonstration today," he said.

The former probation worker whose last UN posting was as head of the human rights mission in Sierra Leone, said he was shocked by yesterday's violence.

"Things are pretty out of control when they attack the parliament and burn the prime minister's house down," Mr Bennett said.

"It's hard to know what's behind it and even who's orchestrating it."

New Zealand's consul-general to East Timor, Susannah Gordon, said the situation had calmed down a lot today, but the consul was prepared to evacuate New Zealanders should the need arise.

"If it comes to the need to evacuate people, we've got a process for dealing with that. But we're certainly nowhere near that yet," she said.

She confirmed two people had been killed when police fired on a group of about 500 students protesting over the arrest of a university student the day before.

"I understand there are two confirmed deaths, but the casualty list may be higher."

Ms Gordon said the damage was not as severe as some media reports had indicated.

"There is fairly significant damage to quite a few buildings, but there were reports that the Dili mosque had burnt down, which wasn't true.

"Things are pretty calm at the moment. It was calm from about 5pm yesterday afternoon. I'm back in my office and the consulate is up and running."

Martin Breen, a New Zealand lawyer working in Dili, described the situation yesterday as "crazy".

"There were people running up and down the street with cartons of cigarettes and booze and all sorts of things. They looted all that," he said.

"Everything blew up yesterday at about 9am. There was a demonstration and police shot one person and then everyone basically went on a rampage."

Mr Breen said most of the aggression was directed at police , with four police cars burnt. The ANZ bank manager's house -- which is across the road from prime minister Mari Alkateri's home -- was also destroyed, as was a bank and a number of mainly Muslim shops.

Most of East Timor's 800,000 people are Roman Catholics, but Alkateri is a Muslim -- which has caused some friction in the Timorese government.

Mr Breen said the capital was under emergency rule , with Portuguese peacekeepers patrolling the streets.

Mr Bennett expressed sorrow at the violence.

"It was a sad experience. I wasn't here in 1999 but to see buildings on fire, plumes of smoke, a large mob in the street and ordinary Timorese people feeling frightened, it was terrible.

"It must have been a terrible reminder for them. They had just been getting used to stability and feeling more secure that life was normal, so it's very, very sad for them that this is happening."

- NZPA