Thousands of East Timorese rallied yesterday to demand the resignation of their prime minister, as supporters of President Xanana Gusmao urged him not to follow through on a threat to step down.
Gusmao, revered as a national hero after leading East Timor's guerrilla resistance against Indonesia for most of its 24-year occupation, threatened on Thursday to resign unless Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri did instead.
The president wants Alkatiri to take responsibility for the crisis that enveloped East Timor last month when rival security forces battled on the streets and gangs rampaged, leading to at least 21 deaths.
More than 2,200 foreign peacekeepers were called in to restore calm but East Timor's political leaders have failed to agree on how to move forward, and the embattled Alkatiri -- whose sacking of 600 soldiers touched off the violence -- has refused demands to step down.
In the late afternoon, about 2,000 protestors reconverged outside the government palace.
Some cruised Dili's streets in trucks urging people to join the protest.
Catholic nuns on a jeep with Gusmao's poster taped to the windscreen passed by to show support, while rock music blared from two huge speakers on a makeshift stage outside the palace.
"The president should not step down," said one of the protest organizers, Agosto Junio. "Mari Alkatiri is the one to blame for the trouble. He is a communist, a criminal. We want to take back the people's parliament," Junio said.
One protestor among the crowd, many of whom were singing and dancing, carried a banner proclaiming: "We are ready to die in this place if Xanana resigns."
Fernando Araujo, leader of the Democratic Party -- which holds seven seats in the 88-seat parliament, the highest of the opposition parties -- told Portugal's news agency that people wanted to give "all the power" to Gusmao.
"It is not a coup. The people only want to give all the power, executive and legislative, to the president of the republic," he said.
The objective was to occupy parliament and the government headquarters and hand over "the keys of power" to the president, he said.
Supporters of Gusmao met with him inside, urging him to stay on.
Dili's Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva, whose church wields considerable moral influence in the deeply Catholic nation, said after meeting with Gusmao: "He promised to consider better [his options]."
But he said he was not sure whether the president would make good on his threat to resign.
On Tuesday, Gusmao wrote to Alkatiri asking for his resignation, saying he had lost confidence in him after seeing a documentary purporting to show evidence he was involved in arming a hit squad tasked with killing his rivals.
Alkatiri bluntly denies the allegations and his ruling Fretilin party, which commands an easy majority in parliament with 55 seats, rallied behind him on Thursday, refusing to withdraw their support for him.
One of his close allies, sacked interior minister Rogerio Lobato, however has been charged with distributing the arms.
Mario Carrascalao, opposition leader in parliament, also met with Gusmao and said he told him that the Timorese did not want to see him leave his post.
"He isn't responsible for the situation, someone else is. And those who are responsible should step down," he said.
The president's threat did not appear to shake Alkatiri.
"No way," the premier told LUSA on Thursday when asked if he intended to step down, adding, "It would make things even more complicated."
Analysts said that Gusmao's move amounted to offering a de facto referendum but warned it may lead to more violence.
"In effect, he has put the problem in the public's hands and is asking the people to choose," said Joao Saldanha, director of the Timor Institute of Development Studies.
He foreshadowed bigger anti-Alkatiri street demonstrations which -- if not handled correctly -- could lead to "more violence and chaos."
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