Thousands of people shouting "independence or death" yesterday mobbed a three-man European Union delegation of ambassadors in East Timor, witnesses said. The chanting crowd, estimated at some 6,000 and made up mostly of students and youths, ran alongside and behind the car carrying the three - Mr Robin Christopher of Britain, Mr Viktor Segalla of Austria, and Mr Paul Brouwer, the Dutch ambassador representing Luxembourg,
The massive turnout in the capital of the former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1976 followed the cancellation of the delegation's original plans because of security concerns.
The ambassadors had been scheduled to attend early morning Mass at the city's Catholic cathedral. But that plan, and a visit to the University of Timor, were cancelled because the appearance of large crowds raised fears of a repeat of day-long street clashes when they arrived on Saturday.
On Saturday riot police used tear-gas and batons when groups opposed on the independence issue clashed. An angry anti-Indonesian crowd marched through Dili behind an ambulance bearing the body of a man they said had been shot by Indonesian troops. But riot police and mobile brigade soldiers were absent yesterday.
Despite pleas to "let us get on with our schedule", the delegates' car was prevented by protesters from leaving a parking lot for 30 minutes.
The ambassadors, who are accredited to Indonesia, made it clear before they left Jakarta that their visit signalled no change in the EU stance on East Timor. They said they hoped it would help resolve the problem, the subject of UN-sponsored talks between Indonesia and Portugal since the 1980s.
President B.J. Habibie of Indonesia has pledged a gradual troop withdrawal from the territory, but his government has ruled out a referendum.
David Shanks adds:
The East Timor International Support Centre in Darwin warned yesterday that the tense East Timorese situation was "ripe for another Santa Cruz massacre", a reference to the 1991 killing by troops of an estimated 270 mourners at a cemetery.
According to its sources in Dili, people supporting continuing Indonesian control of East Timor, were yesterday being bussed to the capital, as they have been over recent days. "The numbers, it seems, are several thousand," the centre said. Intelligence agents of Intel were spotted during the clashes.
The centre said some of the "supposed integrationists" had been tricked into participating in demonstrations against pro-independence East Timorese.