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.