Thousands of East Timorese rallied Friday to demand the resignation of their prime minister, as supporters of President Xanana Gusmao urged him not to follow through on a threat to step down.
Gusmao, revered as a national hero after leading East Timor's guerrilla resistance against Indonesia for most of its 24-year occupation, threatened Thursday to resign unless Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri did instead.
The president wants Alkatiri to take responsibility for the crisis that enveloped East Timor last month when rival security forces battled on the streets and gangs rampaged, leading to at least 21 deaths. But as the deadline approached late Friday, Gusmao hinted he may stay on even though Alkatiri had not signalled in public that he would budge.
"As president, as your brother, I will honour the constitution. I will fulfil my obligations based on your demands," he told a crowd of at least 2,000 cheering people massed outside the government palace.
He urged the people to "be patient and not make any action". "Do you still believe in me?" he asked the crowd which shouted back: "Viva Xanana!" Gusmao later entered the palace, where Alkatiri was. Some of the more than 2,200 foreign peacekeepers called in to restore calm last month provided tight security. "The president should not step down," said one of the protest organisers, Agosto Junio. "Mari Alkatiri is the one to blame for the trouble. He is a communist, a criminal."
One protestor among the crowd, many of whom were singing and dancing, carried a banner proclaiming: "We are ready to die in this place if Xanana resigns!"
Earlier Catholic nuns on a jeep with Gusmao's poster taped to the windscreen passed by to show support, while rock music blared from two huge speakers on a makeshift stage outside the palace.
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