TAHITI PUBLIC REACTION TO RIOTING IN PAPEETE

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(10 Sep 1995) English/Nat • • Six-thousand people gathered in the Tahitian capital, Papeete, to protest against two days of rioting and looting which has left dozens of buildings burnt and wrecked. • • French authorities have already jailed eight people for four months each for their part in the violence. • • Today, they announced the sacking of a senior police chief whose trade union called a general strike over French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. • • These are the people Polynesia's government calls the 'silent majority' who favour French rule. • • They had answered calls in newspapers to take to the streets and protest the violence over the past few days. • • The violence was sparked by France's nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll and is being blamed by the government on trade unions of the country's independence party. • • The rally was organised by the Polynesian Economic, Social and Cultural Council - who stress they are a non-political group. • • President Gaston Flosse has repeatedly accused international journalists of fueling the riots by sensationalist reporting of the nuclear test story - a view echoed by many in the crowd today. • • They believe the riots were orchestrated by a minority not by the silent majority. • • SOUNDBITE: • We're thousands and thousands and tens of thousands. We live in this country, in this beautiful country which is a peaceful country and want to give a different message to what was expressed this past week. • • SUPER CAPTION: Laurent Bessou, Representative Economic, Social and Cultural Council • • The rally passed peacefully though one heckler was removed by police. • • Though before he was driven off in a police van he harangued President Gaston Flosse in full view of the cameras. • • The idea that the disturbances were caused by a vocal minority was echoed by France's High Commissioner, Paul Ronciere, who met a delegation from the rally in his offices on Saturday. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • We urge everybody to restart normal lives with a re-established public peace in the town of Papeete and we are very concerned about that and we hope that very soon the destructions we have observed downtown will be repaired and normal life will be re-established. • • SUPERCAPTION: Delphin Graffe, High Commission Spokesman • • On the other side of the capital independence party leader, Oscar Temaru, was taking journalists on a tour of slum areas. • • He was quick to dismiss the protest rally and condemn those who attended it. • • SOUNDBITE: • They are selfish people because they have their own salaries, very good salaries. They work for the government and after that the problems, the social problems of the country: 'It's not our problem.' That's the attitude of those people. I know them. • • SUPERCAPTION: Oscar Temaru, Independence Party Leader. • • Temaru claims 15-thousand people in Tahiti are living in abject poverty. • • About 20-thousand, he says, are unemployed. • • He blames the government, accusing them of corruption - a charge which is hotly denied by those in power. • • Many living in these slums - came from smaller islands in a fruitless search for work in Tahiti. • • This is the part of the island paradise, the glossy holiday brochures don't show. • • Mr Temaru says the government is doing little to help improve conditions here. • • President Flosse would point to French financed housing projects scheduled through to the year 2003 as easing the plight of the homeless. • • But with social unrest clearly bubbling below the surface and more nuclear tests planned by the French; a repeat of the violent scenes which followed the first blast cannot be ruled out. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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