The 1975 invasion took place the day after President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ended a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. Ninety percent of the Indonesia's arms supply at the time of the invasion came from the United States, and the United States has remained Indonesia's main source of weapons since the invasion. Those Timorese who have survived the Indonesian invasion and occupation face severe repression. A climate of fear pervades East Timor, with those who openly express pro-independence sentiments risking arrest, torture and death. Amnesty International and other human rights sources report widespread detention and torture of political prisoners.
Extrajudicial executions are also common, according to human rights groups.
Despite the overwhelming power of the Indonesian forces, the Timorese refuse to accept the occupation. The event preceding the November 12 massacre, a several thousand person march to a cemetery where a recently killed pro- independence activist was buried, was the latest expression of that opposition. Following a Catholic mass, mourners left a church in Dili, East Timor's capital, and began to march to the cemetery. But, Nairn emphasizes, the crowd was unarmed, remained disciplined and posed no threat to the soldiers and police who stood along the procession route. As the procession reached its destination, soldiers suddenly closed in on the marchers from the two roads leading to the cemetery.