Nine people were killed and six injured in a series of riots against the police. It’s in Indonesia’s troubled Papua region, east of the archipelago, local officials reported this Friday.
The clash broke out after a group of local residents detained a person on suspicion on Thursday. kidnapped a girl In the city of Wamena in the central Highlands, Police district spokesman Benny Ady Prabowo said he was collecting the Detik news portal today. Police teams went to the scene to mediate and took the suspect to the police station, but the angry crowd started to mediate. assault officersOne of them was injured by an arrow and the other by a stone. Faced with escalating violence and burning of cars and other pieces of street furniture, authorities called in reinforcements to try to control the crowd and it ended. shooting at protesters.
Tensions remain high in the city this Friday, where Indonesian Army soldiers stationed in this conflicted area, where several separatist armed groups operate, also joined the police reinforcements of about 200 men. One of these armed groups nesting in the Highlands is holding a New Zealand national who was kidnapped two weeks ago and is threatening to kill him if Indonesia does not recognize West Papua’s independence.
The Papua region of Indonesia, divided into six provinces, occupies the western part of the island of New Guinea, while Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern part.
The Netherlands, which controlled what is now Indonesia during the colonial period, II. Indonesian Papua, rich in natural resources and referred to as ‘West Papua’ by separatists, has been the scene of a low-intensity armed conflict between the Indonesian central state and separatist movements since the region was finally brought under control. in 1969