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DILI, EAST TIMOR - STREETS in East Timor's sleepy capital were closed down Thursday for a movie recreation of Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion, United Nations police said.
Between 60 and 70 local and 30 East Timorese soldiers dressed as Indonesian troops and holding fake rifles were scheduled to take part in the filming of Australian film, Balibo, police said.
Dili residents were given advance warning of the filming to avoid traffic chaos and public distress in a city where the wounds of Indonesia's 24-year occupation are still raw, police said.
Soldiers would set off white flares and burn tires to create smoke but no live ammunition would be used, they said.
The film, which is also being shot in the Australian city of Darwin, explores the alleged 1975 murder of five Australia-based journalists by Indonesian troops in the East Timorese town of Balibo.
An inquest in Australia last year found the five were murdered to prevent them exposing the invasion, but Indonesia maintains they were accidentally killed in crossfire.
A spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry in June called on the filmmakers to include 'Indonesia?s point of view'.
Balibo is directed by Robert Connolly and stars Australian-born Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia.
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