This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AFP

'Business rivalry' behind Tonga riots

MEMBERS of the Tongan business community claimed today that devastating riots which left eight dead and the capital in flames were the result of business rivalry and not pro-democracy activists.

"There's a group of people who engineered this and we know who they are," said journalist Mary Fonua whose publishing company was destroyed.

"It's business rivalry, involving people who are likely to be rival candidates in the next election and also between Tongan and Chinese businessmen."

The immediate blame for last Thursday's rampage was levelled at Tonga's pro-democracy movement, as the destruction started at the end of a political rally demanding reforms to the kingdom's semi-feudal system.

But the business community spoke out today saying the protests were engineered by business people trying to wipe out their competition.

"The whole organisation was too well orchestrated to be a riot," New Zealander Mike Jones, who employs 250 staff in Tonga, said on National Radio.

"It wasn't a riot as such. It was an organised attempt to cut out all of the Chinese, whatever businesses were in opposition to what they had."

The Tongan business community was to meet today to plan a path forward after the riots destroyed 80 per cent of the commercial area.

Lopeti Senituli, an adviser to Tongan Prime Minister Feteli Sevele, said every avenue into the cause of the riot was being investigated.

"The police are certainly conducting an intensive and widespread investigation into the riots and its causes," he said.

He said two weeks before the riots the Tongan Business Group had presented a petition to the King's office calling for the sacking of the prime minister.

"They are part of the list of people that are being investigated."

Senituli said it would take the country at least five years to rebuild the city centre.

Australian and New Zealand troops, called in by the Tongan government to help restore calm, have secured the airport to allow international flights to resume.

The foreign forces stepped up their presence yesterday as Mr Sevele declared he would not step down over the deadly rampage.