MANOKWARI:Indonesia's Papua was hit by fresh unrest yesterday as more than 1,000 securitypersonnel were sent to the restive region after violent protests that sawbuildings torched and street battles between police and demonstrators. Jakartahas called for calm in its easternmost territory -- where an insurgency againstIndonesian rule has simmered for decades - following riots triggered by thedetention of dozens of Papuan students in Java at the weekend.
Yesterday, about1,000 people protested in the streets of Timika city, where an AFP reporter sawdemonstrators throw rocks at the local parliament building as they tried totear down its fence. The crowd, which also reportedly pelted shops and homeswith rocks, began to disperse as riot police fired warning shots. Hundreds alsomarched through the streets of Sorong city, and hoisted the banned Papuan flagin the town of Fakfak on the western end of the island, which is dividedbetween Indonesia and the nation of Papua New Guinea. Police fired tear gas todisperse crowds in Fakfak after they set fire to a market and destroyed ATMsand shops, local media reported.
Several cities inresource-rich Papua were brought to a standstill this week, including Manokwariwhere businesses and the local parliament building were set ablaze by angrydemonstrators. Authorities are hunting for more than 250 inmates who hadescaped from a prison in Sorong that was torched during the riots. Severalpolice officers had been injured, authorities said, and there are unconfirmedreports of wounded demonstrators. No deaths have been reported.
'Getting out ofcontrol'
Some 1,200 extrapolice and troops have been deployed to Manokwari and Sorong from other partsof the country, according to the government and Papuan authorities. Butsecurity personnel were not equipped with live bullets, and the situation was"generally under control", National police spokesman Muhammad Iqbalsaid yesterday. "It is standard that if things escalate (authorities) willdeploy additional personnel," he added. But the move could aggravatetensions, observers warned. "It's making Papuans even more angry,"said human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, a frequent commentator on Papuanissues. "I'm really afraid this is getting out of control," sheadded.
The governmenthas moved to slow down Internet connections in parts of Papua to stop thespread of online hoaxes it said could spark more demonstrations. Anger boiledover at reports that authorities tear-gassed and detained some 43 Papuanuniversity students in the country's second-biggest city, Surabaya, on Saturday- Indonesia's independence day. Police in riot gear stormed a dormitory toforce out students who allegedly destroyed an Indonesian flag, as a group ofprotesters shouted racial slurs at them. Authorities said the students werebriefly questioned and set free.
'Decades offrustration'
Indonesian leaderJoko Widodo, who pledged to investigate the Surabaya incident, was expected tovisit Papua next week. "It is sad that the Indonesian government onlylistens to their decades of frustration when these people retaliated,"said Andreas Harsono, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in Jakarta. Papua hasbeen the scene of a decades-old rebel insurgency aimed at gaining independencefrom Indonesia, which took control of the former Dutch colony in the Sixties.
Security forceshave long been accused of committing rights abuses against its ethnicMelanesian population, who say they've not shared in the region's vast mineralwealth. Tens of thousands of Papuans have been displaced amid intense fightingbetween troops and guerrillas after a rebel faction killed 19 constructionworkers at a remote jungle camp last year. The employees of a state-ownedcontractor had been building bridges and roads as part of efforts to boostinfrastructure in the impoverished region.- AFP