Around 10,000 Papuans protested Tuesday for independence from Indonesia, defying a heavy police presence a day after a deadly ambush that police blamed on separatist rebels, witnesses said.
Demonstrators in the provincial capital Jayapura shouted “Free Papua” and demanded the withdrawal of Indonesian troops from the eastern region, the scene of a low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s.
Other protests were held in Timika, on the southern coast, and in the Indonesian capital Jakarta where hundreds rallied to express support for an independence referendum of the sort granted to East Timor in 1999.
Around 700 heavily armed anti-riot police were deployed in Jayapura, which was tense after unknown gunmen killed four people in a pre-dawn ambush on a road outside the city on Monday.
Police blocked a road to prevent the protesters from reaching the provincial parliament building, although organisers said they had a permit to demonstrate.
“We call for a referendum. This is not Papua’s problem or Indonesia’s problem. This is an international problem. We want independence,” protest coordinator Mako Tambuni said.
The rally ended without incident, witnesses said.
