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INDONESIA-PAPUA-UNREST
Six protesters killed in Papua clash: eyewitness
JAKARTA, Aug 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Indonesian authorities shot dead six
protesters in its unrest-wracked Papua region Wednesday, according to an
eyewitness, while authorities said a soldier was killed in the clash.
Local priest Santon Tekege said the chaos erupted after several thousand
people rallied in the remote district of Deiyai — following riots and
demonstrations across the region last week when buildings were torched and
street battles broke out between police and protesters.
In Deiyai, authorities fired tear gas to disperse Wednesday’s
demonstration, sparking an angry response that saw a group of protesters
attack a soldier, Tekege added.
The military then opened fire on the crowd, according to Tekege, who said
he was at the demonstration.
“Six of them died,” he said, adding that several more demonstrators were
injured and sent to hospital.
A report in local news website Suarapapua.com earlier Wednesday also said
six demonstrators were gunned down.
The deaths could not be independently verified.
Indonesia’s military — long accused of committing rights abuses against
Papuans during a decades-long separatist insurgency — did not confirm the
civilian deaths, but said a soldier was killed and several more were injured
by Papuans armed with machetes and bows and arrows.
About 150 protesters had descended on Deiyai’s government office on
Wednesday, demanding that the district head sign an agreement to hold a
referendum on Papuan independence, said national police spokesman Dedi
Prasetyo.
“The report about civilian deaths is unconfirmed,” he added.
Conflicting accounts are common in Papua, a resource-rich but impoverished
island that shares a border with Papua New Guinea.
The recent riots appear to have been triggered by the arrest this month of
dozens of Papuan students in Java, who were also pelted with racist abuse.
Police in riot gear stormed a dormitory in the city of Surabaya to force
out students accused of destroying an Indonesian flag, as a group of
protesters shouted racial slurs at them, calling them “monkeys” and “dogs”.
Last week, the government moved to shut down internet services in the
region, saying it was trying to stop a stream of offensive and racist online
posts that it feared would spark more violent protests.
Critics slammed the move as a threat to free speech and it has made
verifying information difficult.
Indonesia sent in 1,200 extra police and military to Papua as tensions
soared, while President Joko Widodo has offered to meet with Papuan leaders.
Jakarta took control of Papua, a former Dutch colony, in the 1960s after
an independence referendum widely viewed as a sham.
Many Papuans — who are ethnic Melanesian and have few cultural ties with
the rest of Indonesia — say they have not gotten a fair share of vast
mineral wealth in the region, which is home the world’s biggest gold mine.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1632 hrs