The people of Dili clutched the hands of foreigners yesterday in the capital of East Timor and begged for peacekeeping forces to be sent as the toll for Thursday's anti-independence violence was put at five.
Smiling pro-autonomy Aitarak militiamen could be seen in jeeps and on motorbikes touring the city. Others strutted about in front of the police with impunity.
In the Kuluhun district, residents put rocks and leaves on the road to mark the place where two independence supporters died.
On the last day of campaigning before Monday's UN-managed "popular consultation" on autonomy or independence, the concept of autonomy seemed like a bad joke. The Indonesian red and white flags were out, but campaigning had come to a stop.
People in parts of Dili were fleeing to the mountains and in the city centre others were buying up food in those shops that were open. Further out from the city centre, streets were deserted.
Eight new casualties were admitted to the Montael Church clinic in addition to the seven seriously injured on Thursday. In Becora, a pro-independence area, they were putting up road blocks.
Boys and men were armed with bamboo sticks, afraid that the militia would come. News from Manlewana, on the other side of town, said one activist from each side had been killed. Four pro-independence supporters were wounded and two were in hiding. In Bekussi, two more were reported dead. But it is impossible to verify these accounts.
The pro-independence leader of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), Mr Leandro Isaac, refused to attend a meeting of the all-party committee for peace and justice with autonomy leaders, including the Aitarak leader, Mr Eurico Guterres.
The police chief, Col Timbul Silaen, said the situation was "still conducive" to the ballot. And pro-Indonesian leaders blamed supporters of independence supporters for the recent upsurge in violence.
Mr Isaac urged Timorese not to retaliate against "the provocation of the Indonesian authorities and their thugs".
Both CNRT's offices were damaged on Thursday. And its campaigning came to an abrupt end yesterday at 7 a.m. when Aitarak militiamen came for the computer equipment as the police "guarded" the office.
UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said he was "appalled" by the violence and demanded Indonesia take immediate steps to restore and maintain law and order.
At its daily press briefing, the head of the UN Mission for East Timor (UNAMET), Mr Ian Martin, strongly criticised the police for failing to control the militias and failing to curb the violence in the territory. Mr Martin, a former head of Amnesty International, vowed that the violence and intimidation, some of which have been aimed at UN staff, would not delay Monday's ballot. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
The UN Security Council voted unanimously last night to increase the UN police and military liaison presence in East Timor. The police contingent of UNAMET will be boosted to 460 members from about 280 and the UN military liaison group to 300 from 50, and the mandate of the force has been extended until November 30th.