TAVUA – The usually quiet northern Fiji town of Tavua was abuzz with soldiers dressed in full military gear, some carrying rifles who stopped over to shop on Thursday.

It is believed that the soldiers were in Tavua to assist officers from the Fiji Police Force maintain security as more than 30 people charged with sedition and inciting political violence were produced at the Tavua Magistrates Court.

Three truckloads of soldiers spent more than half an hour moving through Tavua’s main streets before moving to an undisclosed location, the Fiji Times reported.

“There is heavy military presence in Tavua today as villagers from Ra arrived for the second appearance in court of more than 30 people charged with sedition and urging political violence” the newspaper said.

“A team from The Fiji Times witnessed more than 100 soldiers, a few carrying rifles, stationed at every corner of Tavua Town.

“The soldiers dressed in full military garb have been patrolling the streets of Tavua before the scheduled court case at 2pm.”

The soldiers are believed to be part of the 140 officers deployed to the Western Division to assist in police investigations into alleged military style training being carried out in the Ra Province.

However, RFMF Land Force Commander Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho said there was “no deployment of soldiers” to Tavua.

He said it would be wrong to say that military personnel were “patrolling” the Tavua town square because patrolling in a military context would mean a systematic movement through town.

“They stopped on the main street, they went into shops and bought stuff. What’s this patrolling?” Colonle Qiliho said

Police Commissioner Ben Groenewald would not make any comments on the matter, only stating that investigations are still progressing.

On Thursday, 34 people charged with sedition and inciting political violence were produced at the Tavua Magistrates Court. They all requested to have their case tried at the High Court in Lautoka.

Under heavy police guard, the suspects made their submission before Magistrate Samuela Qica in Tavua.

Meanwhile, Ra’s provincial administrator, Kelepi Kubunameca, has assured the public that they are safe and they do not need to fear anything despite ongoing investigations regarding the military style training by a group of people and the attempt to form a Christian state in the province.

Opposition MP Viliame Gavoka has called for caution regarding the sedition cases ongoing in Ra, saying police must be left to handle the situation.

“We don’t want to prematurely deploy the troops in the streets,” Gavoka said.

He said images of troops being deployed with weapons would no doubt be published all over the world.

“I was a global marketing person, already I can imagine the concern of the tourism industry,” he said.

“Instead of sending the troops, why can’t we get two busloads of parliamentarians and ask them, what can we do? What is the problem?”

He said Fiji’s democracy needed to be nurtured and handled with great care.

Gavoka said in the past few days care was not taken and to have troops in full combat gear on the front page of a newspaper was sending the wrong signal about “our young democracy”.

Meanwhile,the government-aligned Fiji Sun newspaper has run a front page story in an attempt to squash rumours of instability in Fiji.

It quoted a list of rumours and then sort to debunk them:

Rumour: Armed soldiers in Ba and Tavua are hunting sedition suspects.

Fact: They stopped to get supplies on their to way to the interior highlands for a normal live firing exercise.

Rumour: The fight has started to overthrow the government.

Fact: Seventy people in Ra, Nadroga and Navosa have been charged with sedition and incitement. They represent a minority group which has been manipulated and funded by some people who are being traced by police.

Overseas anti-Government elements like Rajendra Chaudhry and Mereoni Kirwin are fomenting open rebellion from Australia.

Rumour: Joining attempts to form so-called separatist Christian states is part of democratic rights and freedom of expression and association.

Fact: Forming a separate state is unlawful, referred to as an act of sedition. Freedom of expression and association are guaranteed by the Constitution within the bounds of the law.

Rumour 3: There’s going to be instability in streets, similar to 1987 and 2000.

Fact: The RFMF, Police and their line minister Timoci Natuva unitedly reassure the nation it won’t happen. The environment in the country now is totally different to that which preceded those events.