Anyone found disrupting the peace will be immediately arrested. Officers will also use force if people fail to respond to requests to step down.

The joint taskforce seeks to bring stability and peace to communities.

The initiative is being run by the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) and Timor-Leste Defence Force (FFDTL).

Major General Lere Anan Timur, said at the campaign inauguration on Monday, that officers had to make tough decisions when responding to a crisis to maintain law and order.

He stressed that officers had to know when and when not to use the weapons they carried and be “responsible” if a “security intruder who disrupt national security needed to be shot.”

 Faustino da Costa, Commissioner of PNTL said: "We all know that lately there has been a lot of criminal chaos happening in various places both in Timor-Leste and abroad, attacking and killing each other, which makes people insecure.”

Under current laws, all martial arts activity and martial arts clubs are banned in Timor-Leste. 

Last month two people were killed, three seriously injured and thirteen houses were destroyed in Leorema, Liquicia, as a consequence of violence between rival gangs.

Costa and colleagues are calling on members of the public to report any suspicious gang activity.