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Indonesian military and police fire into crowd of West Papuan civilians, killing 5
Sydney Morning Herald - December 8, 2014
The facts leading to the incident are in dispute, but are further evidence that tensions remain high in a province that has hosted an active but low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s.
Local sources quoted by newspaper Suara Papua say the crowd had gathered in Karel Gobay Square in Paniai to protest against a group of Indonesian soldiers, who they say had beaten a 12-year-old boy the previous night.
On this version, a group of boys aged 12 and 13 stopped a military vehicle on Sunday night to complain that it was being driven without headlights.
Newspaper editor Victor Mambor, from Tabloid Jubi, also quoting local sources, said the boys were living in a small house they had built by the side of the road – a common feature of Christmas celebrations across Papua.
After the boys had stopped them, the driver and passenger of the military vehicle returned to their base in the village of Madi, and then returned to where the boys were, bringing with them a group of fellow soldiers in trucks. The soldiers then beat at least one of the boys, the local sources said.
Mr Mambor said that, on Monday morning, a crowd gathered to protest, and attacked a military vehicle, at which point the police and military fired into the crowd, killing five.
Military spokesman Rikas Hidayatullah said, however, that story was a fabrication. He said his Paniai-based staff had told him a crowd had gathered over an election dispute, relating to the local electoral commission's tardiness in announcing the names of local parliament members.
He could not identify which election was being conducted at the time. People had been protesting for a number of days, he said, and had erected a picket outside the electoral commission office.
Mr Rikas said when the police forced open the barrier on Monday morning, the crowd "ran amok", and attacked the police office, "so police asked the military to help them," he said.
A police spokesman could not be contacted. Police were quoted in local media outlets saying they were still collecting information about the incident.
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