CIVICUS discusses recent protests in Timor-Leste with Domingos de Andrade, known as Ameu, Case Coordinator of the civil society organisation Rede ba Rai (‘Network for Land’) and Nelson Roldão, an activist involved in several campaigns, including in support of the right to self-determination in West Papua. Both are members of Timor-Leste University Students (EUTL) and were arrested by police during the protests.
Student-led protests erupted in Timor-Leste in September over parliament’s plan to purchase luxury vehicles for lawmakers on top of longstanding privileges for political elites. Police responded with violence and arrests, but protesters succeeded in forcing the government to scrap the unpopular policies, including lifetime pensions that had been in place for nearly two decades. The Timor-Leste protests have come as part of wave of Generation Z-led mobilisations in several Asian countries and around the world.