Fiji moves to impose new controls on public order

Fiji's government is stepping back from a promise of a more open society and imposing new controls on public order just a day before it was supposed to lift more than two years of emergency rule.

While the new controls are a somewhat looser version of the emergency rule imposed by Commodore Frank Bainimarama in mid-1990, critics of the military ruler are expected to decry the latest move as further evidence of bad faith by his regime.

Bainimarama's government had said it would lift that emergency rule Saturday, but the new rules issued Friday indicate that the military government will still maintain tight control.

Bainimarama says the controls are needed to address terrorism, racial tensions and hate speech, among other things.

SEARCH