Transcript
The Attorney General who was standing in for a flu-struck prime minister addressed the gathering at one of three temples near Suva which had been broken into in recent weeks.There's been graffiti inciting racial hatred, paint poured on idols and donation boxes stolen. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told the gathering vandalism would not be tolerated against any places of worship in the country.
"There are some places in the world where people are divided by religion and where religious violence is all too common. But that is not Fiji. We cannot tolerate these acts of vandalism, particularly when they have been carried out in places of such sacred importance to our fellow Fijians."
Temples have been attacked before - police reported about 150 attacks on places of worship between 2001 and 2005. Fiji's police chief Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho says the latest are the work of four men whom he described as opportunists targeting money. He said two men are in custody and three people have appeared in court in connection with a crematorium robbery.
"I can assure everyone all efforts have been directed to investigate and also address the underlying issues that have resulted in these attacks on temples."
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said racial vilification had escalated recently including on social media and some people were trying to turn Fijians against each other. He said there are old forces still wanting to drag Fiji back to past "dark times."
"And these attacks are designed to do just that. They are designed to intimidate, they are designed to make us fearful and they are designed to divide our way of thinking along the lines of ethnicity, religion and communalism. As I've said, there are politicians, political parties and their supporters who either directly, publicly or privately add fuel to the fire or at best, keep quiet. Don't let them lead you down this destructive path again."
An opposition leader Biman Prasad said the government was just causing more division. He said it was disappointing, sad and highly unusual that the government used a temple to condemn opposition parties.
"And it's not true. The opposition parties and I can talk about myself have condemned the temple desecration in no uncertain terms and have called on the police to do their job."
"In our view it actually causes more division by talking about the 87 coup and the 2000 coup, that's irrelevant. What the government should do is to get the police to ensure that those who engage in these kind of acts are brought to justice."
Fiji's police chief Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho says 20 officers are working around the clock to find all those connected to the attacks.
