Twenty persons have been arrested in Suriname on suspicion of rape, arson, assault and robbery during Christmas Day riots that targeted migrants in the town of Albina.
Suriname police spokesperson, John Jones, according to de Ware Tijd (DWT) newspaper, said most of the suspects in the riots were identified.
At least seven Brazilians were killed during the unrest, unconfirmed media reports state, while many persons were injured, including women who were raped. The riots have also left many persons homeless.
The violence was triggered by the fatal stabbing of a Surinamese man by a Brazilian national. Giving a timeline of the events, DWT reported that Wilson Apensa was stabbed to death at around 22 hrs on Thursday and a mere hour later friends of the man began to assault and rob Brazilians in the area.
At about 12:30 on Christmas morning, vandals and local residents started looting a local supermarket and gold purchasing companies in the towns of Papatam and Albina. Half an hour later, a supermarket was set alight and the fire spread to houses and parked cars, forcing a nearby power station to shut down due to danger of explosions. Much of the township of Albina is now without power.
Looting then became rampant and the police and army stood by helplessly until they received reinforcement at around 2:30 am. Looters were then ordered to leave their booty behind and the wounded Brazilians and Chinese nationals were transported to army barracks. Fire brigades from the capital Paramaribo and neighbouring French Guiana arrived around 4 am on Christmas day and extinguished the fires and police arrested eight persons.
According to a BBC report, tensions between native Surinamese and hundreds of Brazilians gold prospectors have long simmered in Albina. The town is home to 5,000 people and is the main crossing point into the French territory of French Guiana.
The Brazilian government has since sent an Air Force plane to Suriname over the weekend to take its nationals back home.
It is estimated that there are some 18,000 Brazilians living in Suriname, a former Dutch colony of around a half a million people.