Liquiçá

Liquiçá (Tetum: "Likisá") is a coastal city in East Timor, 32 km to the west of Dili, the national capital. Liquiçá is the capital of Liquiçá district. The city has a population of 19,000 inhabitants.

On April 6, 1999, in the campaign of intimidation and violence that preceded the referendum for East Timorese independence, about 200 persons were killed in the Liquiçá Church Massacre, when members of the Besi Merah Putih militia, supported by Indonesian soldiers and police, attacked the church. (The number of casualties is, not surprisingly, disputed by Indonesia).

During the leadup to the referendum on independence, most of the buildings in the city were destroyed. Only a few buildings from the Portuguese and Indonesian times remain. Most of the inhabitants speak Tocodede.

Starting in 1999, it became the district headquarters for the International Police, assigned there by UNTAET, under the United Nations. It also was the home base of operations for the UNTAET Crime Scene Detachment.