E. Timor Protesters Demand PM Removal

Thousands of protesters demanding the downfall of East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri packed the streets of Dili Saturday and forced the cancellation of a ruling party crisis summit that was to have considered sacking the beleaguered premier.

More than 5,000 predominantly male protesters circled the capital in colorful cavalcades of trucks, buses and motorcycles, noisily branding Alkatiri a terrorist and creating traffic chaos in the downtown area around the government headquarters.

A crisis meeting of the Fretilin party's central committee which was to discuss whether Alkatiri - the target of public anger - should be sacked was canceled because of hundreds of noisy protesters who made conditions at party headquarters impossible, committee member Estanislau da Silva said.

He said the noise of the protest made it impossible for those in the airy building to hear each other speak. Also a few key members were unable to reach the building.

"This is a very important decision we have to make and we cannot work under this sort of pressure," da Silva said.

Alkatiri was to have arrived after a quorum of 45 party officials was reached but the meeting was canceled before he left home, da Silva said.

The meeting was rescheduled for Sunday, probably at the same venue, he said. The party hopes that international peacekeepers will arrive early to keep protesters at bay.

President Xanana Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader revered for helping East Timor win independence from Indonesia, has threatened to quit unless Fretilin sacks Alkatiri, who faces accusations of arming a hit squad to terrorize opponents.

Gusmao said Saturday he had agreed to give Fretilin more time to decide what to do with Alkatiri before carrying out his threat.

"Fretilin approached me and asked me for more time," he said from his mountain home outside Dili, adding that while he wanted Alkatiri to stand down, "I have no capacity to guess what they will decide."

The choice of losing either the president or the beleaguered prime minister has prompted thousands to take to the streets of the capital in recent days, waving the national red, black and yellow flag and chanting "Step down, Alkatiri!"

The protests Saturday were the most spectacular in five days of demonstrations.

In a city where public rallies sometimes turn violent, many downtown businesses remained closed and the streets were largely bare of anyone except vocal Alkatiri opponents and international peacekeepers from Australia, Malaysia, Portugal and New Zealand.

Barros, 53, a protester from Ainaro, about 45 miles west of the capital, said he was trucked in with his family, including his 7-year-old grandson.

"National unity brought us here, in front of the government building, to call on our useless prime minister to step down," Barros said.

"Mari Alkatiri's government prioritized weapons over buying rice for the people," he said, calling on the next prime minister to provide jobs and bring prosperity to the impoverished country.

The protesters want Gusmao to use his constitutional powers to sack Alkatiri, who is blamed for weeks of violence and political chaos.

Many East Timorese say Alkatiri's decision to fire 600 disgruntled soldiers in March sparked the street battles and gang warfare that left at least 30 people dead and sent nearly 150,000 people fleeing from their homes.

The violence was the worst to hit the tiny Asian nation since it voted for independence from Indonesia seven years ago, but ebbed with the arrival of a 2,700-member Australian-led peacekeeping force several weeks ago.

The arrest of former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato on charges of providing weapons to the self-proclaimed leader of a hit squad allegedly commissioned by Alkatiri has intensified accusations against the prime minister.

Alkatiri has denied any knowledge of the hit squad.

But the country's top prosecutor said Saturday that Lobato - charged with attempted revolution, conspiracy and providing state weapons to civilians - claimed in a closed court hearing that Alkatiri knew civilian militias were being armed.

"Rogerio Lobato said ... the prime minister had all the knowledge about the distribution of the weapons," Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteir told reporters, adding that it was too soon to say if the prime minister also would face charges.