Reports that at least four people were wounded when police opened fire on a peaceful protest in Indonesia’s remote Papua region on Monday, highlight the need for urgent international intervention to prevent a repeat of the atrocities committed by the Indonesian authorities in East Timor.
The protesters were shot when police fired into a crowd of around 200 indigenous Papuans rallying in the streets of Nabire town in West Papua province demanding independence from Indonesia and a boycott of the upcoming elections.
‘The people didn’t react or throw anything but Brimob (paramilitary police) attacked them,’ Mr Douw said, adding that the four injured were in ‘critical’ condition in hospital.
The crowd chanted ‘boycott the election’ and called for the release of 17 activists arrested last week in a raid on the headquarters of the Papuan Customary Council, the top cultural representative body for Papuan tribes.
Pro-independence sentiment runs high in Papua, which sits on the western end of New Guinea island and is populated mainly by the Melanesian ethnic minority.
Indonesia took formal control of the region in a 1969 UN-sponsored vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham and the area has seen a long-running insurgency by poorly armed pro-independence guerrillas. It is estimated that over 400,000 Papuans have been killed and countless others raped and torutured by Indonesian military since the illegal occupation began.

Historic scenes in Westminster, London last week with the launch of International Parliamentarians for West Papua. Led by a group of influential parliamentarians from around the world, the group’s aim is to provide a route towards freedom for the people of West Papua who have suffered terribly under 40 years of Indonesian occupation. Progressive guidelines and targets were set down by the parliamentarians present which will be relayed to other politicians around the world, on the path towards direct action against the illegal and unjust Indonesian occupation.
Papua Merdeka! Free West Papua!