Massive security lockdown amid East Timor protest

Thousands of supporters of East Timor’s ousted prime minister rallied in the capital today amid a massive security lockdown by foreign peacekeepers.

International troops in helicopters, armoured vehicles and on foot escorted a convoy of trucks and buses packed with protesters along a prearranged route through Dili. The demonstrators, many of them bare-chested, had been searched for weapons at a roadblock away from the city.