Indonesian police arrested at least 15 people and stopped over 2,000 people from participating in an independence rally in resource-rich Papua province today, witnesses said.
Police blocked roads as hundreds of Papuans began streaming in for the rally in Jayapura, capital of remote Papua, where independence activists have waged a campaign for nearly 40 years to break away from Indonesia.
The co-ordinator of the rally, Buchtar Tabuni, said he had sought police permission for the rally.
Separatist groups have stepped up protests in Papua in recent months. The province has witnessed several rallies to demand a referendum on Papuan independence, and Papuans have hoisted the outlawed separatist "Morning Star" flag in public places on some occasions.
There have also been small bomb blasts, including at an airport and near a copper mine run by the local unit of US mining firm Freeport McMoran Copper& Gold.
Freeport's Grasberg mine in Papua - believed to have the world's third-largest copper reserve - has been a frequent source of controversy over its environmental impact and the share of revenue going to Papuans.
Papua, which occupies the western half of New Guinea island, was under Dutch colonial rule until 1963, when Indonesia took over. Jakarta formalised its rule in 1969 in a vote by community leaders that was widely criticised as flawed.
Reuters