City smoulders after night of madness

By TONY WALL

SUVA - The air was thick with smoke and the streets stained with blood the morning after Fiji's capital city went crazy.

The acrid smoke wafted from the charred remains of shops that burned to the ground during riots the day before; the blood came from looters who forgot about pain and used their fists to punch through plate-glass shop windows.

Suva's hospital treated more than 100 people for cuts and deep lacerations - the concrete path leading to the emergency department was covered in trickles and spatters of red.

Police arrested 267 people on riotous damage charges.

While the turquoise waters off Suva glittered under the autumn sun, soldiers and police patrolled barbed-wire roadblocks, checking that motorists had the curfew permits that have become like gold to people here since a state of emergency was declared on Friday.

The police officers carried not guns but golf clubs, apparently looted from sports stores.

The chaos began early on Friday afternoon when thousands of Fijians on an anti-Government march through downtown Suva heard the Government had been overthrown, and went on a rampage.

Hours later, downtown Suva resembled a war zone, with 15 shops and five kiosks burned down and 167 shops looted. The estimated cost of the damage is $30 million.

Most shopkeepers got wind of the trouble and fled with their staffs to the safety of their homes.

The riot ringleaders were young men aged between 17 and 30, who used sticks, heavy objects or their fists to smash virtually every window within a five-block radius of the Suva markets.

They set some shops alight. Others they simply ransacked. Liquor was popular. So too were food, clothing, electrical goods, even stationery.

The shopkeepers were in deep shock and many vowed to quit the country to join family in places such as New Zealand.

Jayanti and Urmila Lal, who have two sons in Auckland, are one such couple. They sat at home and cried as television pictures showed their firm, Boomerang Jewellers, burning to the ground.

Looters took about $600,000 of diamond rings and necklaces. The Lals are insured, but believe they will never be able to rebuild their business.

Raju Raniga, owner of a vegetarian restaurant and home-made ice-cream store which was also burned, wiped tears from his eyes as he surveyed the charred ruins of what was once one of the best restaurants in Suva.

"I've got no idea what to do ... this has put Fiji back 20 years."

The large groups of indigenous Fijians who gathered at the Suva markets had little sympathy for the Indian shopkeepers. One woman, Caroline Heffernan, said she did not feel sorry for them because their prices were too high.

Police had little hope of quelling the riot. Outnumbered, they were forced to back off when rioters began pelting them with bottles.

Dr Enasio Morris, of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital accident and emergency department, said his staff were ready for a wave of Indians injured by attacking rioters.

Instead, more than 100 looters arrived with cuts, some serious, from broken glass. At least three needed blood transfusions.

By daybreak, the frenzy had gone, replaced by a general feeling of calm.

Tourists caught up in the riots told of bizarre scenes. Sandra Schneider of Switzerland said people were coming up to her and her friends offering looted goods such as clothing and chocolates.

On Saturday afternoon about half of those arrested went before emergency sittings of the Suva Magistrate's Court.

About 165 men and boys, ranging from Catholic schoolboys to men in their 50s, pleaded not guilty one by one. All were granted bail.