Indonesian intelligence agents shot dead one man and wounded five other people who attacked their car during a visit to East Timor yesterday by three European Union ambassadors, witnesses said.
The British, Austrian and Dutch ambassadors cut short their trip and returned to the capital of the troubled former Portuguese colony after the second death of their tour. An estimated 50,000 pro-independence demonstrators were waiting for them in Dili.
The Indonesian agents' car had been following two cars carrying the ambassadors from Dili to the coastal city of Baucau. When the convoy arrived at Baucau Cathedral, several hundred well-wishers, who had been shouting pro-self-determination slogans, rushed forward to welcome them.
But when they saw the third car carrying the agents some of them started to beat on its windows and bombard it with rocks, smashing a rear window.
An agent in the back seat of the car pulled out a pistol. Then they fired tear gas, and several agents used rifles, the witnesses said, adding one man was shot dead.
"Just before I ducked, I heard the glass break, and saw the man from the back seat stick out an automatic rifle," said Mr Armandio Armandio Sermin, of the human rights group the Justice and Peace Commission, who was in a car behind the agents' vehicle.
The crowd and journalists who had been waiting for the ambassadors then fled some 75 metres into the Cathedral, where some women were singing.
The dead man was identified as Orlando Marcelino, a 35-year-old farmer. He was shot at close range through the face.
None of the ambassadors - Mr Robin Christopher from Britain, Austria's Mr Viktor Segalla and the Dutch diplomat, Mr Paul Brouwer, representing Luxembourg - were near the shooting.
The first EU chiefs of mission to visit East Timor since Indonesia's invasion in 1975 had already entered the office of Bishop Basilio Do Nascimento for talks on East Timor's problems.
The Bishop emerged to pray over the body before turning to the stunned crowd. "I am shocked and saddened," he told them, "but we must get on with the process of peace."
Three of the injured were identified as a 15-year-old girl, Ms Diree Elizabeth Rosario, who was shot in the right arm, Mr Cesarino Jose DaCosta (19), and Mr Jeronimo DaCosta (39).
In the early hours of Saturday, one man was killed as Indonesian troops reportedly tried to break up a fight between pro- and anti-Indonesian East Timorese.
The East Timor Governor, Mr Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, in Dili yesterday called for calm and warned of a crackdown on "anarchists," Antara news agency said.
On their return to Dili, the ambassadors found thousands of pro-independence demonstrators lining the streets to welcome them back. Many of the estimated 50,000-strong crowd held out flowers, fruit and bottles of water to the diplomats.