Police and army offers patrolled the abandoned streets of the Suriname border town of Albina. Burnt out cars, a hotel lying in ruins, and looted shops bore silent witness to the bloody riots the town experienced this Christmas, reports NRC Handelsblad.

Wide spread violence raged through the town after a dispute between an Albina man locally acknowledged as a criminal and a Brazilian prospector escalated on Christmas Eve. The local man, who died of wound inflicted during a knife-fight, was the first of an unconfirmed eight deadly victims over the weekend.

Albina is a town of several thousand souls, located on the west bank of the Maroni River, which marks the border between Suriname and French Guyana. It is home to a native population of mostly maroon people, descendants of runaway African slaves brought to Suriname long ago by Dutch traders.

After the killing, hundreds of locals maroons took to Albina’s streets, wielding axes and other weapons. They directed their aggression at the Brazilians and other foreigners living in their town, including Chinese shop owners. Thirteen people were injured and twenty Brazilian women were raped and battered.

“This stuff recalls the Rwandan genocide. And it is happening right here in our own beautiful Suriname,” a radio reporter cried out during a broadcast. “Emotions are running rampant and the authorities are nowhere to be seen,” the reporter said.

Public response to the riots was one of shock, but the events could hardly have come as a complete surprise. Albina has long been a hotbed of unrest, violence, and lawlessness. Still, no one had expected that the usually so peaceful nation of Suriname would be facing a Christmas marked by murder, violence and rape.