Fiji Coup Leader Speight ArrestedFiji coup leader George Speight, who stormed Parliament in May and took most of the Cabinet hostage, was arrested Wednesday after an apparent shootout with the military.Speight and at least two of his associates were accused of violating curfew. He was also expected to be charged with weapons offenses and threatening the president. He was stopped on a bridge after he left a school in Kalabu, 12 miles east of Suva, where he has been holed up since releasing his hostages on July 13, the military said. "There's a number of allegations that were being brought to us about the carriage of arms in and around Suva by George Speight and his bodyguards and about threats to the head of state," military spokesman Lt. Col. Filipo Tarakinikini told Reuters. There were no details about the threats to Fiji's head of state, ailing 79-year-old President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. Speight and all his supporters were granted an amnesty as part of a recent deal to release the last of his hostages. The military said Speight and his followers had failed to turn in all their weapons, which was a condition for the amnesty. Speight and a gang of gunmen stormed Parliament on May 19, claiming it was on behalf of indigenous Fijians in the country. They held Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and most of his multiracial cabinet hostage for 56 days. |
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