One killed in protests over Papua divsion
One killed in protests over Papua divsion
Agencies, Jakarta
Protesters clashed with supporters of a new province in Indonesia's troubled Papua island on Sunday, leaving one person dead, a news report said.
The clash occurred when about 100 people attacked the office of the newly created government of Central Irian Jaya, local police chief Lt. Col. Paulus Waterpaw told the private El Shinta radio.
He said one person died in the melee in Timika.
Meanwhile, AFP reported earlier that, hundreds of people clashed on the street of Timika in the second brawl to take place following the inauguration of a new province there a day earlier.
Some 400 people opposed to the new Central Irian Jaya province as part of a move to split Papua into three, attacked more than 100 pro-province supporters guarding the new governor's office in the town of Timika, police said.
"The violence took some 156 minutes with both sides throwing rocks at each other," said Second Sergeant Kenneth of the district police in Timika.
He said that a few people were injured, including a local parliamentarian, but he could not give any figure.
But he said no one had been arrested following the incident.
Yance, a doctor on duty at the Timika general hospital said three people were treated for injuries sustained from stone throwing and later discharged.
The clash followed protests Saturday when some 500 supporters of the new province were attacked by 200 opponents as they paraded through Timika.
It was the second day of protests against the creation of Central Papua -- the island's third province -- a move that Papua Governor Jaap Salosa and others have criticized as a ploy by the central government to undercut the island's autonomy.
On Saturday police fired warning shots to disperse more than 2,000 stone-throwing protesters who tried to attack the ceremony establishing Central Irian Jaya.
Indonesia recently carved Papua, which borders independent Papua New Guinea, into the provinces of West Irian Jaya, Central Irian Jaya and Papua.
In 2000, Indonesia passed legislation granting Papua greater autonomy and a larger slice of revenues from its existing gas and oil fields to defuse separatist sentiments.
New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper-and-Gold Inc. operates a massive copper and gold mine in the mountains above Timika.
Indonesia took over Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, from the Dutch in 1963. Its sovereignty over the region was formalized in 1969 through a U.N.-sponsored vote by traditional leaders. Rights groups and independence activists have claimed for years that the ballot was a sham.
A small band of separatist rebels, known as Free Papua Organization has since waged a largely ineffective insurgency against Jakarta's rule.