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Frank Bainimarama - Source: ONE News -
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Fiji's military regime has claimed that a string of attacks on
prominent pro-democracy Fijians could be the work of
anti-government protesters.
At least five high-profile men have had their property vandalised
with large rocks or petrol bombs in the past month in a spate of
overnight attacks on homes and cars.
In the latest attack, Fiji Times newspaper editor Netani Rika had
at least three unlit molotov cocktails thrown into his house in the
capital Suva early on Sunday, the second attack on his property in
two weeks.
All victims had voiced opposition to the country's military
leadership or ruler Frank Bainimarama's failure to return the
country to democracy in the two years since he staged the December
2006 coup.
Fiji media and leading commentators have speculated that the
interim government could be connected to the attacks, which are
being investigated by police.
The government commented on the vandalism for the first time on
Tuesday, with Defence Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau distancing the
regime from the attacks and saying it could be the work of
anti-government protesters.
"At this point in time, we do not know who was behind the attack or
was it politically motivated or not," Ganilau told the news website
Fijilive.
"These people are unknown to the police and for all we know; this
could be a move to discredit the government."
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who was ousted in
the bloodless coup, has been critical of the police investigation
into the violence.
"Police investigations have arrived at nothing and we wonder if any
investigations are being done at all," he told the Fiji Times.
