Irianese hoist West Papua flag

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Dozens of residents in a remote Irian Jaya subdistrict of Ganyem, about 100 kilometers west of here, defied a police warning to lower a separatist West Papua flag on Thursday.

As of 5 p.m. local time, scores of police and military troops were still persuading the people to abide by their order.

Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Hotman Siagian said here that the police would take stern measures against the proindependence group if their persuasive approach was unsuccessful.

Proindependence student Samuel Yaru said the security authorities did not have the right to stop people from hoisting the Morning Star flag.

Demands for independence have been persistently aired in the country's easternmost province for years, with many protesting Jakarta's unfair revenue-sharing deals from mining exploitation here.

At Cendrawasih University campus, hundreds of students commemorated on Thursday the death of Steven Suripaty, who was shot during a proindependence rally on July 3 last year. Chairman of the university student senate, Philipus Oscar Mansi, said the memorial would last until Saturday.

In Semarang, some 50 Irian indigenous students marched peacefully through the Central Java capital city in support of independence for both Irian Jaya and East Timor. They distributed leaflets demanding the Indonesian Military (TNI) leave Irian Jaya and the government release political prisoners. (34/har)