Moment the coup spills Fiji blood

By TONY WALL

SUVA - It took a week for the Fijian Army to be deployed to the scene of the hostage crisis in Suva. Less than 24 hours later, two soldiers and a civilian were shot in a chaotic gunfight.

Machinegun bullets whistled through the air, missing a photographer's head by centimetres and slamming into a soldier's leg, another's shoulder and a television cameraman's forearm.

None of the injuries sustained in the Saturday morning gunfight was life-threatening.

The trouble began the day before.

For the first seven days after George Speight and his rag-tag bunch of rebels stormed Parliament and took the Government hostage, unarmed police officers manned the roadblocks around the parliamentary complex.

The scene was relatively calm and police let hundreds of Speight's supporters come and go.

But that changed on Friday.

Responding to reports that carloads of men had been driving through the roadblocks at night and pointing guns at his officers, Police Commissioner Isikia Savua handed control to the military.

About midday on Friday, soldiers armed with M16 rifles appeared at the roadblocks and prevented people from entering Parliament. Speight and his followers did not like it.

That evening he led a 100-strong mob to the nearest roadblock to dismantle it and try to get the soldiers to quit their post and join the cause.

No shots were fired during the clash, but it was a dressrehearsal for the gunfight the following morning.

About 11 am on Saturday, a similar-sized mob, this time without their leader, walked towards the roadblock.

Herald photographer Kenny Rodger was one of about eight photographers and cameramen who followed.

"They headed for the barricade ... and when they met the soldiers they tried to pull their weapons away," he said.

"A group of about four soldiers dropped back, firing warning shots in the air, but when they saw that one of their mates had been hit they advanced, firing shots into the ground, trying to drive back the rebels so they could retrieve their comrades.

"Gunfire was exchanged both ways and basically we were in the line of fire," said Rodger.

"Four or five of us were pinned up against a concrete wall which had no cover ... We could hear the bullets flying through the air."

All the while an unarmed Speight supporter kept trying to pull a soldier's gun away.

Rodger saw APTN cameraman Jerry Harmer fall to the ground with blood pouring from his arm.

The soldiers fired only into the ground, while the rebel gunmen were firing straight ahead through the crowd, said Rodger. About 50 shots were fired in total.

AP photographer Rick Rycroft said a rebel gunman stood on a bank firing down on the crowd.

"I heard a bullet go past my head. I heard the percussion sound and looked behind me and Jerry was lying on the ground."

Harmer was taken back with the retreating soldiers, while the other photographers accompanied the rebels towards Parliament. The mob then broke up the roadblock, carrying an Army tent and barbed wire back above their heads while chanting victory songs.

Harmer, who is based in Bangkok, was operated on at Suva Hospital. The bullet passed through his lower forearm and did not damage any tendons.

He was flown out of Fiji yesterday for more treatment.

Immediately after the shooting, the Army was stood down from the roadblocks and control was handed back to police.

The atmosphere in the compound later was tense. When I tried to approach Speight to question him about the gunfight, one of his goons turned me around, pushed me in the back and sent me stumbling down some steps.

Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Tarakinikini said one of the wounded soldiers was the officer in charge of the roadblock.

"They fired warning shots as they were told to and the situation escalated beyond that and they couldn't do anything else," he said.

"The concern we have is more for the country ...

"Our troops are caught in the situation. They were sent out to do their jobs in a situation that is ambiguous and volatile. It's hard to make proper rules of engagement."

Many in Fiji are questioning why the Army was not sent in immediately after the coup to seal off the complex, instead of allowing hundreds of Speight's supporters to join him and create an explosive environment.


More Fiji coup coverage

Under seige: map of the Parliament complex