Students clash with police in Jayapura

Students clash with police in Jayapura

R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Jayapura Police apprehended 42 students involved in a violent
antigovernment demonstration in the city on Saturday, but some
were later released after questioning.

The 42 students were arrested because they attacked security
personnel after being asked to disperse peacefully.

Some 150 student demonstrators clashed with security personnel
when the latter tried to disperse the students, who were
demonstrating outside the provincial legislative council
building. Several demonstrators pelted stones at security
personnel.

The students had marched 12 kilometers from their campus in
Abepura to the legislative building, where they held a free-
speech forum.

Holding aloft a picture of the late Theys Hiyo Eluway, former
chairman of the proindependence Papuan Presidium Council (PDP),
and antigovernment banners, the demonstrators raised their hands
and gave victory signs and sang a Papuan folk song to attract
attention.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Totok K., chief of the Jayapura Police, said
only a few demonstrators had been detained and that the majority
of them would be released after police finished questioning them.

"We just want to know who coordinated the demonstration and
their political aspirations, because the legislature is closed on
Saturdays," he said.

Two demonstrators, identified as La Ali Kudu from Cendrawasih
University and Demianus Wariman from a private university in
Jakarta, have been arrested for the roles they played in
coordinating the demonstration, he said.

Totok said the demonstration was part of a series of
antigovernment rallies that the students held over the last seven
days without notifying the police.

"The police do not prohibit students from holding
demonstrations, but they should first notify the police for
security reasons and in accordance with the law," he said.

During the free-speech forum, the students expressed their
opposition to special autonomy, which takes effect as of January
2002.

They called on local authorities to allow them to conduct a
referendum to determine whether or not the Papuan people
supported special autonomy.

The demonstrators, mostly from state Cendrawasih University in
Abepura, called on the provincial legislature to amend history
books concerning Irian Jaya's integration into Indonesia.

The demonstrators also demanded that an independent team that
includes foreign parties be established to investigate Theys'
murder.

Theys was found dead in the border area between the province
and Papua New Guinea on Nov. 11, 2001 after he was abducted by
unidentified men a day before. Theys' driver, Aristoteles Masoka,
who witnessed the abduction, is missing.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is expected to issue a
presidential decree to set up a national commission to
investigate Theys' death.