Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Anger in Indonesia
Student protesters are sprayed Tuesday with a police water cannon truck during a protest outside the parliament in Jakarta, Indonesia. Police fired tear gas and water cannons Tuesday to disperse thousands of rock-throwing students protesting a new law that they said has crippled Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The death toll from violent protests in Indonesia’s restive Papua province has risen to 32 after several bodies were found under burned buildings, officials said Tuesday.
An angry mob torched government buildings, shops and homes and set fire to cars and motorbikes in Papua province’s Wamena city in a protest Monday by hundreds of people sparked by rumors that a teacher had insulted an indigenous student.
Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said Tuesday that 12 more bodies were found in and around the burned-out wreckage of buildings set afire by rioters. Seventy-two other people were hospitalized, many with burns or head injuries.
Kamal said the number killed is expected to rise as authorities search through affected areas in Wamena.
Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said earlier that police were questioning 733 university students involved in another protest in Jayapura.
The students’ protests turned violent on Monday as a mob of students attacked a soldier and several police officers with machetes and rocks, resulting in security forces responding with gunfire, killing three civilians. The soldier died on the way to a hospital. At least five police officers were in critical condition.
Kamal said police have named five students as suspects in the officers’ assaults. They could face 5½ years in jail if found guilty. Police also arrested two men suspected of orchestrating the violent protests, Kamal said.
He said about 5,000 people fled to temporary shelters at police and military headquarters in Wamena after their homes were burned in the riots.
National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said at a news conference that the situation was brought under control Tuesday after more police and soldiers were deployed to restore security in Papua province.