Photos by Pesi Fonua, Linny Folau and Mary Lyn Fonua

Surging out of a Pangai Si'i political rally held by some of the Tonga's People's Representatives, on the afternoon of November 16, their excited supporters led by marauding gangs of thieves, thugs and arsonists, ransacked the Nuku'alofa business district.

Looters of all ages and descriptions, whipped up into a frenzy of excitement, followed the mob leaders to targeted businesses and the homes of successful business people. They destroyed almost everything in sight - avoiding the businesses owned by leaders of the rally and businesses that have supported them. Eight people are known to have died as buildings with people in them were set on fire. Six died at Shoreline Group's building on Taufa'ahau Road, where employees escaped, some through windows, one with her skirt on fire.At Molisi Tonga the central supermarket, run by the Prime Minister's family terrified shoppers and staff had run for cover into a rear warehouse after a group of about five men throwing coconuts and carrying sticks burst into the supermarket. Cash registers were snatched from the checkout area and the IMEX money transfer agency, and a yelping crowd of looters followed the leaders in to trash the store, which was later torched. Parliament House and government offices were also attacked.

In the surprise attack, vehicles were overturned and set alight, windows smashed, and businesses trashed, until at the end of the business day Nuku'alofa was a mad, seething mass of people trying to get into and out of burning and damaged buildings. Outnumbered policemen tried to direct the traffic jams - an agitated mix of office workers, criminals in vehicles loaded with loot, a truckload of balaclava-wearing hooligans; while still others who had left the town earlier, were trying to return to save CPUs as a thick column of smoke rose above the town. Meanwhile, families: 'mum, dad and the kids', indulged in a widespread rampage of looting that went on well into the night.