Militiamen strutted the capital's streets yesterday, a day after going on a deadly rampage, as a final rally in the campaign for next week's vote fell victim to the violence.
Armed police were on guard, but there was no sign of a planned joint rally by supporters and opponents of independence on the last day of official campaigning for Monday's autonomy ballot.
Amid international condemnation of the Indonesian police, residents in the Kuluhun neighbourhood placed rocks and leaves on a road to mark the spot where two independence supporters died on Thursday.
The pair were among six killed as pro-Indonesian militiamen, pressing for acceptance of the autonomy package in Monday's vote, fought running battles with independence supporters.
Indonesian police for the most part were unable to prevent Thursday's violence, and in many cases stood by and allowed pro-Jakarta militia members, several of whom were carrying automatic weapons, to fire on groups of independence supporters.
There were unconfirmed but credible eyewitness reports that police killed one independence supporter with a shot in the back after he demanded they arrest rampaging pro-Jakarta militiamen.
At a news conference yesterday, Indonesia's Ambassador-at-Large for East Timor, Francisco Lopes da Cruz, accused independence supporters of starting the violence by stoning a pro-autonomy rally.
On the streets of Dili, tension remained high yesterday. Local staff fled the office of the UN refugee agency, leaving only one expatriate to guard the premises. Militia fired shots near a Unamet office, wounding two.
Several Dili-based human rights groups told of continuing violence in the pro-independence suburbs of Kuluhun and adjacent Becora.
Many people were fleeing those neighbourhoods for the mountains or escaping to join family and friends in safer parts of Dili.
One woman resident of Becora, who asked not to be named, told human rights workers that the Aitarak militia had threatened to steal her voter registration card and rape her if she voted in the ballot.
Men armed with arrows and machetes patrolled the side of the road, defending Kuluhun against any fresh militia violence. One youth had a homemade gun. "There is an Aitarak company behind the church with automatic weapons," a youth said.
Some shops were open and public transport was running in central Dili as the two-week campaign came to an end. But most streets were quiet.
East Timor's all-party Committee for Peace and Justice met yesterday with representatives of the militias, including Aitarak militia chief Eurico Guterres.
But no pro-independence representatives were at the meeting, which came amid international calls for Indonesia to do more to curb the militias.