The Prospect of Violence

On Tuesay, there was a riot. Riot (noun): a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd. This was my very first riot and a fine riot it was indeed. The interesting thing about this particular riot is that it was almost entirely based on rumour.

It all started when current Member of Parliament and former militant leader, Jimmi Rasta, was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in prison for shooting a man in the knees while he lay incapacitated in hospital. (The man lay incapacitated, that is, not Jimmi Rasta.)

A large crowd formed around the high court awaiting his sentencing. Many people are still deeply wounded and angered by the recent ethnic tension in this country and rumour had spread there would be trouble, whatever the sentence. As in any country, young men with nothing to do are attracted by rumours of trouble. Many Rasta supporters had travelled in from the provinces to hear the sentence.

Around 11 o’clock I caught a bus into town, excited only by the imminent prospect of purchasing olive oil. I was jerked out of my contemplative reverie by the bus screeching to a halt, mounting the median strip and driving back the way we came. As I looked back all other vehicles were doing the same. Hundreds of men, women and children came running and screaming towards us, out of the centre of town.

The lack of information was terrifying. What had happened? Why was everyone so afraid? Images of bandits lopping arms off with bush knives came into my mind. Something very serious must have happened to make everyone run. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) took all the guns away during the tension, so it was either bush knives or stoning.

I went back to my office in Chinatown. Only as I neared the office did it occur to me that during the riots in 2006, Chinatown was the target of violence. There is a great deal of racism against Chinese here. There is a history of burning down Chinatown during civil unrest. However, my Solomon Islander colleagues would be sure to know what to do.

Every shop in Chinatown was locked and shuttered. As I reached the office, the landlord was locking the gate. I slipped inside and watched with my colleagues as over a hundred riot police gathered outside in the street. Riot police themselves look extremely intimidating. I felt I was on the set of a Denzel Washington film.

Bizarrely, after an hour or so, many of the police had left, the landlord unlocked the gate and the men from the photocopy shop next door gave me a lift home. No-one knew what had actually happened or if anything had happened at all. I spent the afternoon at home watching “True Blood.”

The peace had definitely been disturbed, but had there been violence? Solomon Islands is a land of many rumours. Rumours and high emotions are a powerful combination. The sheer hysteria of the men and women running and screaming through the streets was the most frightening and probably most dangerous aspect of the incident.

Human beings are interesting things. We were both frightened and excited by the prospect of violence. Young men flock to where the violence is rumoured to be taking place. We all have a story to tell about where we were when “it” happened. The closer to the danger you were the more kudos you get. Perverse or not, it’s human nature.