JAYAPURA, 11 May 2005 - Hundreds of pro-independence demonstrators clashed with police in Indonesia's Papua province on Tuesday after two activists went on trial for flying a separatist flag, local media reported. The clashes erupted outside a court in the provincial capital, Jayapura, about 3,500 km northeast of Jakarta, after the two appeared in court on charges of subversion in connection to the incident last year.
Police said dozens of people had been hurt but declined to elaborate, national news agency Antara reported. Local television footage showed police striking protesters with batons. Papua, at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, is a separatist hotspot where a low-level insurgency has brewed for decades.
Critics of the government say grievances stem from military abuses and widespread dissatisfaction over Jakarta's distribution of wealth generated by the province. Jakarta took over Papua from Dutch colonial rule in 1963. In 1969 its rule was formalised in a vote by community leaders which was widely criticised as political theatre.
|
'Latest news' feed