REFILE-Soldiers patrol Tonga's streets after riots
17 Nov 2006 00:54:14 GMT Source: Reuters
(Corrects typo in headline) NUKU'ALOFA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Soldiers and police patrolled the capital of Tonga on Friday, as calm returned to the South Pacific island kingdom a day after violent pro-democracy protesters looted and burned government buildings and shops. Black smoke was still coming from smouldering buildings torched during the riot in which around three-quarters of the offices and shops in central Nuku'alofa were destroyed, local media said. "It is pretty much normal now," a government official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. The central business district of the capital has been declared off limits and was being patrolled by members of the kingdom's small defence force. The rioting began after parliament went into recess for the year without voting on proposals for sweeping democratic reforms to Tonga's semi-feudal system. Prominent pro-democracy campaigner Akilisi Pohiva said the authorities had made a mistake in delaying reform and needed to act. "It is the responsibility of the King and the Prime Minister to call a meeting of cabinet who has the responsibility to settle the problem and to make sure the security and peace is restored to the country," he told Radio New Zealand. Late on Thursday evening the government bowed to the protesters and agreed to new elections in 2008 in which a majority of the parliament would be directly elected by popular vote. Under the current system, nobles and appointed MPs outnumber the elected representatives. Despite the violent protests there were reports of only a few minor injuries but no arrests. Among the buildings damaged were the prime minister's office, the financial department, offices of power company Shoreline, which is partly owned by King George Tupou V, the town's only bank and Chinese owned shops and businesses. New Zealand and Australia have condemned the violence and said they are ready to help, but warned their nationals in Tonga to stay away from large gatherings. "We've had no requests, no troops have been deployed and the situation is calm," said a spokesman for Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his country was considering whether to send in security forces to help restore order.Tonga, a group of 170 coral and volcanic islands about 2,000 km (1,250 miles) north of New Zealand, saw unprecedented protests in May 2005, when 10,000 people -- a tenth of the population -- took to the streets demanding democracy and public ownership of key assets. In August 2005 public servants staged a six-week strike over pay that halted services at hospitals and schools. King Tupou V signalled some democratic changes when he succeeded his late father in September.The royal family said in a rare public statement in October that the Anglophile new king, educated at Oxford University and the Sandhurst military academy, believed Tonga's political system was not evolving quickly enough.There are no universal elections in Tonga, where 10 of the 14 cabinet posts in government are appointed by the monarchy for life. Two of the remaining four posts, chosen from elected members of the legislative assembly, are reserved for "nobility".
