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DILI - A flag-waving crowd of around 500 East Timorese students descended on the tiny nation's parliament Wednesday to protest against the import of cars for lawmakers.
The students from the impoverished country's two universities wielded banners decrying what they said was the purchase of 65 Toyota Landcruisers from Japan costing around 35,000 dollars each.
'Members of parliament should not use the people's money to buy luxury cars and enrich themselves while the people go hungry,' protest coordinator Gaudensio de Sousa told AFP.
One lawmaker was showered with plastic soft drink bottles as he attempted to leave the parliament compound.
But parliamentarians sought to play down protesters' fears over the plan, saying only around 900,000 dollars had been set aside for the purchase of 26 cars.
'The interpretation that these cars are for all members of parliament is not correct because we are only going to buy 26 and divide them between members of parliamentary commissions,' ruling AMP coalition lawmaker Dusae Barreto said.
East Timor, which gained independence in 2002 after 24 years of Indonesian occupation, is one of the world's poorest nations with an unemployment rate of around 50 percent.
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