along with buses and motorbikes, and were accompanied by Malaysian and Australian forces in armoured personnel carriers and an Australian Army Black Hawk helicopter. However, there was little or no violence accompanying the convoy, aside from some stones thrown as the convoy passed through Comoro, indicative of the level of support for the protest, which one reporter described as "a very impressive show of people power". In a deal brokered by Foreign Minister Ramos-Horta to ensure a peaceful protest, the convoy consisting of up to 2,500 people gathered in Tibar outside the Malaysian checkpoint to the west of the airport, where they surrendered any weapons before proceeding through Dili. The crowd chanted for the resignation of Prime Minister Alkatiri, while also expressing support for President Gusmão. Gusmão later addressed the crowd from atop a car outside his office, saying "Let me bring peace to East Timor and then we will resolve others matters." He was said to be in tears at times, and said "The priority now is to stop people burning, and guns shooting." The convoy completed a loop around the inner city, before peacefully dispersing again. On 7 June, Alkatiri agreed to a United Nations investigation into allegations that he was responsible for several incidents in April and May which sparked the crisis. UNOTIL representative Sukehiro Hasegawa, having met separately with Alkatiri and rebel leaders including Tarak Palasinyar and Reinado, said that Alkatiri was "agreeable to the investigations to be carried out... He's very transparent. He insists that truth should be known, what happened." Meanwhile, Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said that the East Timorese judicial system was beginning to deal successfully with the problem of violent street gangs, saying that "We are detaining people, we are bringing them before a magistrate, and if they are found guilty, then, they are further being detained." On 8 June, claims emerged that former Interior Minister and Alkatiri ally Rogerio Lobato (who had resigned a week earlier), acting on Alkatiri's instructions, recruited and armed a civilian militia to "eliminate" opponents of Alkatiri. The group consisted of about thirty civilians, and were allegedly armed with "18 assault rifles, 6,000 round sic of ammunition, two vehicles and uniforms." The leader of the group, referred to as Commander Railos, said that they had instructions to kill all of the rebel soldiers, but after losing five of the group in armed combat in Dili came