Looters' haul scattered in shantytowns

By TONY WALL in Suva

Millions of dollars of goods looted from Indians' shops during last Friday's Suva riots are now scattered widely throughout the city's shantytowns and slums.

The Herald was yesterday taken to some of the poorest parts of the Fijian capital - where the weekly wage is as low as $50 - to meet those who led the rampage and to view the property they stole.

One man, Jone, was in the thick of the action as thousands of indigenous Fijians looted and burned shops after word spread that the gunmen had stormed Parliament.

The 26-year-old from Lami stole more than $30,000 of goods from a duty-free store, including 10 Rolex watches, gold chains, shoes and clothing.

He agreed to show the Herald an All Black jersey and bottle of perfume, but said he had buried the more expensive items in the bush.

Jone described the afternoon of madness: "We were on the [anti-Government] march and I was expecting this looting to happen because I had heard from friends who are close to those who were taking over the Government.

"We marched as far as Albert Park at the end of town, then we had lunch at McDonald's.

"We heard on the radio that the Parliament was taken over - that's when we knew it had started. We ran outside and went straight to Tappoo's [duty-free store].

"We talked about only doing Indian shops, not Fijian, because the Indians have been trying to take our land from us.

"Two guys tried to rob a Jap fella and some cops stepped in.

"Someone whacked the cop and he fell down and from then on it all started - people were yelling, 'Break the windows, break the windows - Tappoo's, Tappoo's.' Then everyone was smashing windows and looting. There was one guy on the steps of a shop with two bottles of champagne in his hands shaking them up and spraying everyone who came along.

"There was an old man with a leg of lamb in one hand and a bottle of gin in another and he was saying, 'Party today,' in Fijian," said Jone.

"The police tried to stop it but there was nothing they could do. They just said, 'Be careful, don't cut yourself on the glass. Take what you want and move on.'

"Someone piled up some shirts and lit them and threw them into a menswear shop and it burned down.

"People took beers and spirits from liquor stores and drank them in the street.

"People were taking their stuff home with them in buses or Indian cars they took. Some people made three or four trips back into town."

Jone said he had no criminal convictions and had never looted before.

Asked why he had taken part, he said: "It was just for fun."

Police officers were seizing loot from people and taking it home, he said.

The Herald spoke to another looter who saw a disturbing attack on an Indian police officer.

The man said the officer was hitting two youths with his baton when someone came up behind and smashed him over the head with a large bottle.

"We thought he was dead. He had no pulse."

The emergency department at Suva Hospital confirmed that an Indian officer with a head injury had been admitted, but he recovered and was discharged.

The witness said he took about $4000 of gold chains from a jewellery store that burned down.

Told this was theft, he said: "No, that's rioting."

He and his mates had planned to raid an Indian warehouse near their village if there was further unrest.

Police arrested close to 300 people involved in the looting of about 170 shops and charged them with causing riotous damage.

Since Friday's riots there have been sporadic acts of arson and looting throughout the country.

On Wednesday, a Goodman Fielder chicken factory was torched, and yesterday coup leader George Speight's old firm, Fiji Hardwood, was firebombed.

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