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Police patrol riot-hit Timor
Staff and wires
DILI, East Timor (CNN) -- Police, backed by U.N. peacekeepers, are patrolling the East Timorese capital Dili after a violent outbreak of rioting by students in the newly-independent nation. Many Timorese have been shocked by the violence, while the country's Prime Minister Mari Alkitari told U.N. officials he would call for a probe into the riots that left at least one person dead and at least one other injured. The prime minister's office said a state of emergency had been issued and a curfew imposed at 6:00 p.m. (0900 GMT), however Brennon Jones of the United Nations mission in East Timor said that was just a "rumor." "This afternoon the prime minister went on the radio and asked people to stay in their homes, stay off the streets at night," Brennon told CNN. "It is nightfall now, the police are out, backed up by peacekeepers, and they are spending the night making sure everything remains quiet." Initially, the prime minister's office reported two deaths and nine injuries, however Jones reported the casualties were much lower. "Our understanding is that only one person has died, and that happened at about nine o'clock this morning behind the parliament building which is adjoining our building here," Jones said. The clashes broke out Wednesday morning after a group of high school students went to East Timor's parliament to protest the arrest of a fellow student a day earlier, according to the prime minister's office. The student was reportedly arrested Tuesday for threatening to kill someone, according to local media. A group of former guerilla fighters -- who have staged recent protests against the country's high unemployment level -- reportedly attended the students' protest and started throwing rocks, which led to the violence. As police intervened, gunshots were exchanged, although it is not clear if police or the protesters fired the first shots. The riots spread across the city and East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao asked U.N. police to intervene. The U.N. forces tried to disperse the crowds with tear gas around 1:00 p.m. (0400 GMT), but were unable to control the rioting and looting, which began to quell around 4:00 p.m. Demonstrators set fires across Dili, including the prime minister's house, his brother's residence, and several parliamentarian offices. They also torched some of city's main supermarkets and several vehicles. Gusmao and Alkitari appealed for the country to remain calm. The Democratic Republic of East Timor was officially established in May, after the United Nations administered the tiny, half-island region after violence broke out as a result of East Timor's overwhelming vote to break from Indonesia in 1999. Pro-Indonesia militias razed approximately 80 percent of East Timor's infrastructure, killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands into refugee camps. -- CNN's Atika Shubert contributed to this report
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