M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – Hundreds of people displaced by religious violence in Maluku protested Wednesday in front of the governor's office to demand promised financial assistance to rebuild their lives.

About 200 people, mainly women and children, braved heavy rain to gather outside the governor's office in Ambon, which was guarded by dozens of police officers.

They demanded the government deliver promised aid to more than 2,500 displaced families in West Seram and Central Maluku regencies and Ambon city. The families were forced from their homes during the outbreak of religious violence in 1999 that swept across Maluku.

"Please, all we ask is the government pay attention to our fate. We have nothing left and it will be the fasting month soon," shouted a woman as she breast-fed her baby.

Protesters and police nearly came to blows when some of the demonstrators attempted to force their way into the governor's office. Several women attempted to scale the 2.5 meter-high gate. "How come we can't go inside? There's a lot of elderly people and children dripping wet out here," said La Ipo, 64, of West Seram regency.

The father of seven said he had been asking for assistance from the government for years, but all in vain.

"I completed all the necessary paperwork in 2003... but I still haven't received any help," he said.

Another protester, Mansyur, 48, also from West Seram regency, criticized local government officials for failing the displaced families.

"If the officials inside no longer have the conscience to pay attention to us, then they have no religion."

He said the protesters were simply asking for their rights. "We're victims and we have no future. How long do we have to live without homes?"

He said in his village of Waralohi, 254 families had lost their homes during the religious violence and could no longer afford to send their children to school. "It's hard enough just to get enough food to eat."

He said the government had promised him and other families many things, but had never delivered anything tangible. The last promise, Mansyur said, was in January, when officials assured families assistance would be coming this year.

"We've returned home and built a simple hut from bamboo. We want help from the government so we can live in a decent home," he said.

Administration secretary Abdul Rahman Soumena eventually met wit demonstrators. He said work to resettle displaced families should have been completed last year, as required by the central government, but confusion over the number and location of the families had delayed the work.

"Data on refugees continue to be a problem. This is the result of dishonest officials and the displaced people themselves," he said.

Citing an example, he said in Ambon city up to 80 percent of 5,000 displaced people claimed to be receiving no assistance. He said this showed that the data on the number of displaced in Ambon had been manipulated by officials from the district and subdistrict offices, from which the provincial administration received its figures.

Abdul asked families to remain patient, saying the administration hoped to finish resettling them sometime in 2007.

"Apart from dealing with poverty and unemployment, dealing with displaced people is our priority," he said.