Jayapura back to normal after recent riots
Jayapura back to normal after recent riots
JAKARTA (JP): Calm returned yesterday to Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura after it was rocked by riots on Monday and a smaller- scale disturbance on Wednesday, officials and residents said.
"Activities have resumed and things are normal again. Hopefully schools will reopen (today)," Second Sgt. Rusmanto, an information officer at the Trikora Military Command, told The Jakarta Post by phone yesterday.
A woman living in a government employee housing complex in Abepura district said her neighborhood was calm but tense.
"Police and military officials are still patrolling the streets and housing complexes," she said.
She said shops and schools were closed after a number of hand- made bombs were thrown into the neighborhood on Wednesday.
"Fortunately, the bombs did not explode," she said.
Budhi Setyanto, the director of the Jayapura office of the Legal Aid Institute, told the Post that trading activities resumed yesterday along the city's main streets and in makeshift tents at the razed Abepura market.
Rusmanto said 40 religious and tribal leaders had a three-hour meeting with Trikora Military Regional Command chief-of-staff Brig. Gen. Johnny Lumintang on Wednesday night to discuss ways to restore peace.
The leaders toured the city yesterday, asking the public to calm down.
The military has arrested 89 people believed to have led the riots which left four people dead on Monday, Antara reported. The suspects, believed to be separatists, will be charged with inciting unrest.
One of the four was arrested on Monday while tearing apart an Indonesian flag. Another was grabbed while hoisting the flag of the Free Papua Movement, which has been fighting for a separate state in Irian Jaya, the news agency said.
Thousands of youths went on a rampage shortly after the arrival of the body of Thomas Wapay Wainggai, an Irian separatist leader who died in a Jakarta prison last week.
Earlier reports said the crowd, including students from Cenderawasih University where Wainggai once taught, became angry upon learning that his body was headed straight for his home in Jayapura, not enabling them to pay their last respects.
The rioters burned Abepura's main market down, seriously damaged 25 four-wheel vehicles and 15 motorcycles, and destroyed scores of houses and shops. (imn/has/19)