National Federation Party President, Pio Tikoduadua says the presence of armed soldiers trying to control unarmed and harmless ordinary workers who are members of Fiji National Provident Fund trying to source their own funds in this depressed economic climate is intimidation and thuggery.
Tikoduadua says NFP strongly condemns this.
He says whoever decided to send armed soldiers onto the streets amongst the public must be held to account.
Tikoduadua also questions what are armed soldiers with automatic weapons doing amongst ordinary workers.
He says they are asking the military and government to clearly tell the people what are the rules of engagement for the armed soldiers and what are their orders for opening fire.
Tikoduadua says we are dealing with civilians, not armed thugs and hardened criminals. He says a well-trained military and police force should easily be able to control a non-violent crowd without any weapons.
Armed soldiers are patrolling strategic national assets of the country to en-sure there's no sabotage by anyone - Naupoto
The Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto confirms that armed soldiers are patrolling the strategic national assets of the country to ensure there is no sabotage by anyone however he stresses that armed soldiers will not be walking the streets of Lautoka.
Speaking to Fijivillage, Rear Admiral Naupoto says the soldiers are patrolling national assets like reservoirs and water treatment plants, Energy Fiji Limited sites, transmitter sites and beacons for the planes to ensure that these assets are well protected.
Rear Admiral Naupoto also says that these soldiers on patrol had to attend to an emergency due to the large crowd outside FNPF Lautoka earlier today.
There were long lines outside FNPF Lautoka from about 5.30 this morning.
He stresses that they will not have armed soldiers on the streets of Lautoka City.
The Army Commander says that unarmed soldiers will be assisting Police to ensure the safety and security of people outside offices like FNPF.
He says this is to also ensure that people are following social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
