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The peaceful action at the US Embassy was proper

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Suara Timor Lorosa'e - July 10, 2002

Thomas Freitas, Dili – Activists from the NGO La'o Hamutuk and others were disappointed by Manuel Carrascalao's statement in Tuesday's edition of STL that "Foreigners can not come here to provoke conflict amongst East Timorese."

This information was given by Thomas Freitas, a coordinator of the peaceful action in front of the United States Embassy last Saturday.

"We do not agree with what Manuel said," expressed Freitas. In his opinion, the peaceful action carried out in front of the US Embassy was proper and right, especially the demands that were forwarded in the action which were not in contradiction with any principles of democracy.

"In this peaceful action, we called on the US, which was celebrating the 226th anniversary of their independence, to apologize for their involvement in the 24 years of Indonesian military occupation. We also asked the US government not to renew military ties with Indonesia and also not to block the process of an international tribunal for war crimes in East Timor," he said.

He clarified that in this peaceful action, there were not a thousand demonstrators as Manuel Carrascalao stated. "We were only a few dozen people and it is true that there were some foreigners. There were three foreigners. We did not shout or scream. We only lit candles and held posters and then we left," he clarified.

He explained that the three foreigners at the action were US citizens who were part of the struggle for East Timor's self-determination in other countries throughout the struggle for independence. In his opinion, their presence in this peaceful action was proper because as US citizens they have a right to protest their government, and they were not trying to provoke conflict amongst East Timorese, as stated by Manuel Carrascalao.

He explained that the foreigners' presence there fit with the US embassy's invitation to celebrate the nation's independence. "Once more, activists are very disappointed with what was said by Manuel Carrascalao because the involvement of the three Americans there was a demonstration of their solidarity and they also have played an important role in the Maubere people's struggle during 24 years of Indonesian occupation in Timor Leste. Their involvement in this action was not to provoke conflict," he stated firmly.

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