SUVA, Fiji — Fijian rebels on Wednesday freed nine of the 27 hostages they have held in Parliament for nearly two months, but outside the Pacific nation's capital, there were ominous signs of unraveling civil order.
A half-dozen guards were taken hostage by about 50 inmates in the maximum-security ward of Naboro prison, about 10 miles outside the capital, Suva. A police riot squad and soldiers surrounded the prison.
In the town of Labasa, five officers were injured in the latest takeover of a police station. And on Turtle Island, another rebel group apparently seeking talks about a land dispute seized the resort where "The Blue Lagoon" was filmed and briefly held 40 tourists.
The unrest has persisted despite a deal struck Sunday between Fiji's military leaders and the rebels who have held members of Fiji's government hostage in Parliament since May 19.
Under the deal, rebel leader George Speight was supposed to free his 27 hostages Thursday. In exchange, the military was to grant most of his demands, including the ouster of the elected government and a reduction of political power for Fiji's ethnic Indian minority.
The early release of nine lawmakers Wednesday caught Fiji authorities by surprise. Speight's spokesman, Jo Nata, said the hostages were freed as a goodwill gesture and to prevent a "stampede" if all hostages were released together.
The hostages asked to be released at night "to avoid the humiliation of being liberated in front of our supporters," Nata said.
Former hostages Leo Smith, Anand Singh and Anup Kumar attended an emotional prayer vigil later Wednesday at Suva's Anglican cathedral with about 150 relatives of hostages. Singh, Fiji's deposed attorney general, told the congregation he was delighted to be free and thanked supporters for packages they sent the captives.
"A bar of chocolate was like gold to us," he said.
The freed lawmakers included all the ethnic Indian hostages except deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his son. The other remaining hostages are ethnic Fijian legislators.
The hostage crisis began May 19, when Speight's band stormed Parliament and took several dozen hostages, including Chaudhry, the nation's first leader from the large ethnic Indian minority. Speight's rebels are ethnic Fijians who say the Indian minority has too much power. They demanded that Fiji's multiracial constitution be scrapped.
Amid anti-Indian violence and looting in the wake of the coup, the military seized control on May 29 and declared martial law. On Sunday, after weeks of negotiations, military leaders caved in to all Speight's demands and he agreed to free the hostages.
The unrest since then is an apparent rebel effort to wring more concessions from the military, including Speight's possible appointment as prime minister when Fiji's tribal chiefs meet Thursday to pick a new government.
Indo-Fijians, whose ancestors were brought to the islands by British colonialists over a century ago to work in the rich sugar cane fields, make up 44 percent of Fiji's 812,000 people. Many indigenous Fijians, who make up 51 percent of the population, resent the Indo-Fijians' economic and political clout.
Fiji's tourist industry has been devastated by the crisis, with some of the hundreds of resort hotels reporting occupancy rates as low as 10 percent.
On Turtle Island, the 40 resort guests, including 15 Americans, were detained overnight. Released Wednesday morning, they boarded a cruise ship to Fiji's main island and planned to fly home from there.
The resort's owner, American Richard Evanson, was still being held in a hotel room, resort manager Robert Bestford said. Rebels said they wanted to talk to him about ownership of the Turtle Island,
Members of the rebel group at the resort were believed to be from a tribe involved in a long dispute over ownership of the island.
On the Net: Turtle Island resort site: www.turtlefiji.com/