Police expel German TV team from Irian

Police expel German TV team from Irian

JAKARTA (DPA): Irian Jaya Police have ordered a German public- television team out of the country, the head of the three-man group said Saturday by telephone from Jayapura.

They had been filming in Irian Jaya where there were demonstrations this week demanding independence and the flag of a separatist group was raised before the soldiers broke up the protests.

Hartmut Idzko, the Singapore correspondent of ARD -- Germany's network of publicly owned channels -- said he had been interrogated by local police for six hours and had been accused of entering the province without a special permit from the information ministry.

He told DPA that the team had obtained press passes from the ministry in Jakarta to film in Indonesia.

On Friday he had interviewed student leaders on the campus of Cendrawasih University.

Foreign journalists are required to obtain special permits for visits to Irian Jaya and to East Timor.

Idzko said he had assumed it would be easier for foreign journalists to work in Indonesia following the political reforms introduced since the appointment seven weeks ago of the new president, B.J. Habibie.