Dili – A protest rally by hundreds of former East Timorese soldiers sacked after deserting last month turned ugly Wednesday when at least five houses and a market in Dili were vandalised, witnesses said. About 2,000 protesters held a demonstration in support of nearly 600 soldiers who complained of poor working conditions and discrimination before they deserted.
Their leader, Gastao Salsinha, has said the soldiers, mainly from East Timor's 10 western districts, deserted because they were being passed over for promotion in favour of those from eastern districts.
Some of the demonstrators vandalised five houses in the eastern districts of East Timor, including the home of a policeman in downtown Dili, witnesses said.
"I was with my sleeping child when the house was suddenly attacked by people, some wearing fatigues," homeowner Lorenca Miranda said. "I also saw three policemen in the area run away when the attack was taking place," she said.
Petrolina Soares, 26, said she was taking a siesta and her husband was eating when men stormed into their house and damaged belongings.
East Timor Police Chief Paulo Martins went to the site, police inspector Armando Soares said, and nearly 400 police provided security for the protest, which followed a peaceful rally through the capital on Monday.
Meanwhile a market in the Taibessi area of Dili was also attacked by youths who were not among the protesters and did not discriminate between stalls owned by those from the east or west, an AFP correspondent said.
East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said earlier this month the government was setting up a panel to review the soldiers' complaints.
He said the men may be reinstated but only on a case-by-case basis, and accused Salsinha of becoming disgruntled after being demoted when he was caught smuggling sandalwood more than a year ago.
He said the soldier then sought to spread stories about discrimination within the ranks but most of the men had left simply because they did not like life in the barracks.
East Timor became the world's youngest nation in May 2002, after a UN-backed referendum that handed the former Portuguese colony independence from Indonesia, which had occupied it for 24 years.
The deserters accounted for almost a third of the tiny fledgling nation's military forces.