Photos by Linny Folau

An excited crowd of strikers and their families surged onto Pangai Si'i this morning, defying a police cordon that was attempting to shut down the area at the heart of the civil servants strike.

The dozen or so policemen did not have sufficient numbers to stop the men, women, and children, who reclaimed the park, yelling "They'll have to carry us from here to our graves!"

It was the first confrontation with the police as Tonga's Public Servants entered the fourth week of their strike today.

The police were sent in to enforce a Cabinet Order to stop the strikers from entering the grassy, tree-shaded park, where hundreds of people have been gathering and speaking daily.

The strikers, at first, obeyed the police order but remained beside the road, outside the area, some sitting on the dusty ground and some sitting on chairs while Revd ...‘Aisea Kava offered words of encouragement and a prayer.

After the prayer the crowd, of about 200 strikers surged back onto Pangai Si'i carrying their seats, yelling loudly, "Don't be afraid! Come in! They'll have to carry us from here to our graves!"

Once the strikers were back in the park, the MC, Fotu Fisi'iahi called on them to stay calm, then they started singing hymns. Fotu also told the them that the Tongatapu People's Representative, Clive Edwards, was trying to get a court injunction to allow the strikers to remain at Pangai Si'i.

Finau Tutone, the President of the Public Servants Association, said that at 7:00pm yesterday, Thursday, he had received a letter from the Secretary to Cabinet ...‘Eseta Fusitu...’a , informing him that Cabinet had not accepted their letter of appeal to stay on at Pangai Si...’i.

Finau said that when they arrived at 9:00am this morning, the entrance to Pangai Si...’i was chained and police officers were blocking the entrance to the park.

The Public Servants Association has submitted another letter of appeal against the Cabinet...’s decision, which they hoped would be referred to a Privy Council meeting this morning.

Pangai Si'i in central Nuku'alofa has been the rallying point for the strikers since July 25.