FemLINK Pacific 1325 Report - Part 2

17 November 2011

What did yesterday's riots in Honiara mean to women? Did they actively engage as protestors?

No, according to Koisau Sade, the Gender Coordinator of World Vision Solomon Islands was close by:

"From what I saw yesterday, the Gender composition of protestors, I would say 98% were male. I only saw one young lady emerge from the crowd. The only other woman there was from the media."

Women in the neighbourhood simply observed from their yards, she added, noting that most of the protestors were male youths: "The male youths outnumbered the mature adult males. I saw children who looked as young as 11 or 12 years joining the crowd and holding stones as big as fists in their hands."

Rocks were thrown at a large old water tank next to the Governor General's house, she said:

"It was noisy so I didn't get to hear what was being said, just the chants asking PM Lilo to step down. The police were very alert and came to the Governor General's residence in numbers just before the crowd arrived."

According to Lorio Sisiolo, General Secretary of the Solomon Islands National Council of Women, the wave of protests instilled fear in the community, resulting in a complete shut down of Honiara:

"It seems that business houses are back to normal as of this morning. We are still monitoring the situation," she related a few hours ago: "Also at the council we getting views from our women
as to what their views are with regards to the current situation and how it affects us all women and children."

Meanwhile it also seems the protestors were not keen on being photographed said Sadae:

"When I started taking pictures as the protestors arrived, they saw me and threw rocks into our yard and on top of our house."

.....
Sharon Bhagwan Rolls
Executive Director
femLINKPACIFIC

www.femlinkpacific.org.fj

Sent via BlackBerry® from Vodafone.

ENDS

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