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Coup supporters seize resort

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Rebel supporter of George Speight and former Fiji Special Forces member Bill Lotawa, right, speaks to Associated Press during an interview at Pacific Fisheries Company while the company's manager Mitieli Baleivanualala, left, looks on, Tuesday, July 11, 2000 in Levuka, Fiji. Lotawa led an armed takeover of US affiliated seafood processing plant Pacific Fisheries Company in Levuka. (AP Photo/Brian Cassey)

July 12, 2000 

SUVA (AP) - Rebel supporters seized an upscale resort in Fiji on Tuesday, the military regime said, worsening the 54-day government crisis with the first attack on a foreign facility.

It was not immediately known how many tourists were at the resort, or what their status was, a military spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.

An unknown numbers of supporters of rebel leader George Speight raided Turtle Island, a resort off the northwest coast of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu, the military spokesman said.

Unconfirmed reports said tourists at the resort were not taken captive, but were ordered to leave.

Phones calls to Turtle Island rang unanswered Tuesday night.

Speight supporters have engaged in widespread civil disturbances across the Pacific nation this week, occupying police stations and blockading roads in an apparent effort to wring concessions from of the military regime.

All of the unrest was peaceful, with no injuries reported.

	An ethnic Indian shop keeper Parvati Manilal is behind the counter of her store and looks on after Rebel supporters of George Speight went on a rampage yesterday through the historic Fijian town Tuesday July 11, 2000 in Levuka. Manilal's shop is one of the surviving street stores rampaged by rebels. (AP Photo/Brian Cassey)

The resort, with 28 rooms costing up to U.S. dlrs 1,000 a night, is owned by American businessman Richard Eveson, a former cable television station owner.

It was not clear how many people were staying at the resort, nor how many staff were working there.

Fiji's tourist industry has been devastated by the government crisis, with some of the hundreds of resort hotels scattered across dozens of islands reporting occupancy rates as low as 10 percent.

However, around 100 Americans a week have been among tourists still coming into Fiji.