Dili – Troops have fanned out across the East Timorese capital Dili, a day after a violent protest left two dead, as the president called for calm and urged thousands who fled their homes to return.
Police commissioner Paulo Martins told reporters that 34 people had also been injured in the unrest, which saw rioters wielding planks and steel pipes smash windows outside Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's office building.
The rioters, who were originally marching in support of some 591 soldiers who were sacked last month after deserting their barracks, also burned at least five cars. Martins said about 100 homes were vandalised in Dili's Tacitolu area while a market was also badly damaged.
"Police have arrested seven rioters and they have been taken for questioning, while the rest of them are still hiding in the surrounding hills of Dili," he told reporters after meeting President Xanana Gusmao.
Hundreds of soldiers meanwhile were deployed across the capital at strategic locations, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
The streets of Dili were largely deserted with most public transport not operating though a few taxis still sought fares. Shops and markets mostly remained shuttered but the airport was operating under tight security.
Gusmao toured the city with local media and saw about 50 houses torched in Tacitolu.
The AFP correspondent said one corpse was seen at Tacitolu but no further information about the circumstances of the death was immediately available.
"With sadness, I apologize to the people because they had to flee their homes because the situation ran out of control yesterday (Friday)," the popular president told several thousand refugees sheltering at Dom Bosco seminary.
"But now, I ask that all be prepared to return home calmly because I have already talked with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and the situation has returned to normal," he said. "I also call on the youth to remain calm and rebuild peace in this country."
Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader who fought against the Indonesians during their 24-year occupation of the tiny nation, also said that the incident was a lesson for the nation's political leaders.
"If there is an internal problem, it should be immediately settled, and not allowed to drag on," he said. Gusmao also encouraged several hundred refugees outside the US embassy to return home.
A US embassy official told AFP on condition of anonymity that only some staff members and their immediate families were being sheltered inside.
Several thousand protestors took to the streets Friday for the third rally in a week supporting the sacked soldiers.
East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta blamed the unrest on "groups that wanted to take advantage of the situation, some them linked to the opposition" and said the soldiers themselves were not involved.
Gastao Salsinha, the most senior of the dismissed soldiers, has said that the troops, mainly from East Timor's 10 western districts, deserted because they were being passed over for promotion in favour of those from the east.
Ramos-Horta said earlier this month the government was setting up a panel to review the complaints of the soldiers, who had made up about a third of East Timor's fledgling army. He said the men may be reinstated but only on a case-by-case basis.
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. It is Asia's poorest nation.