Armed Australian soldiers, and other international peacekeepers of the Australian-led ...

Armed Australian soldiers, and other international peacekeepers of the Australian-led International Force for East Timor (INTERFET), including members of the United Nations (UN) Civilian Police (CIVPOL), stand guard at a riot outside the Dili Gymnasium and Basketball Stadium. Known to be in the photograph are, from left to right: 453878 Sergeant K O'Leary; 1811948 Gunner (Gnr) L P Wilson; 2805998 Lance Bombardier (LBdr) G N Magann; 2806586 Gnr T Charters: 4803790 Gnr J Kenway; and 1808178 Gnr T B Pitt. The United Nations (UN) had made an offer of employment for 700 local people. Registration took place inside the Dili Basketball Gymnasium. Approximately 3000 unemployed people arrived and were forced to wait in hot cramped conditions in a small square outside the stadium. Crowd control was supervised by either 2 or 3 A Battery Airborne gunners, led by Captain Steve Jenkins. Part way through the proceedings a UN official informed the crowd that only those people with computer skills and good English and Portuguese language skills would be considered for the jobs. Members of the waiting crowd rioted and Jose Ramos-Horta, who had recently returned from exile, was called in to help calm the crowd. As a co-founder and former member of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), Ramos-Horta had served as the exiled spokesman for the East Timorese resistance during the years of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (1975 to 1999).