Three die in Papua as marches spill over into violence
PROTESTERS in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost region, torched government buildings and fired arrows in clashes that saw at least three people killed.
For two weeks, thousands of civilians have been demonstrating against perceived discrimination from Indonesian officials, after a video emerged in which security officers call Papuan students “monkeys” and “dogs”.
The protests were coupled with demands for independence from Indonesia, which in the Sixties launched a military operation to seize Papua.
Yesterday demonstrators set buildings ablaze in the provincial capital of Jayapura, forcing the state electricity firm to cut power to parts of the city.
According to Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer and member of the National Committee for West Papua, the provincial Papuan Assembly and “several other buildings” in Jayapura were burned. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who set fire to cars, according to state news agency Antara.
On Wednesday more than 1,000 people tried to storm a police station in the town of Deiyai, wielding machetes and bows and arrows. Officials claimed two protesters and one soldier died in the confrontation. Ahmad Mustofa Kamal, a police spokesman, said one of the protesters was killed when his stomach was pierced by an arrow. “The protesters shot arrows and threw rocks at our officers,” he said. “We even heard gunshots coming from their direction, so that is why we shot back.”
Protests by Papuan students also took place in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
Security forces in the region, which borders the country of Papua New Guinea, have been accused of human rights abuses against Papuans, who are ethnically distinct from most Indonesians. Papua joined Indonesia in a 1969 vote that many dismiss as a sham.