Photos of West Papuan Rally (protesting Jokiwi's visit) Sydney 26 February

West Papuan supporters in Sydney protest durning Jokiwi’s visit to Sydney (26 February).

Gathering outside the Channel 7 studies in Martin Place, supporters then marched to the Sydney DFAT offices and on to the Sydney Town Hall.

Speakers including West Papuan representative Lewis Prai spoke out about the Lombok Treaty, the military and the plundering of the resources of West Papua. 

Malcolm Turnbull wrote   in an opinion piece  in the SMH on Saturday about Australia’s special  relationship with Indonesia.

In the article he said 

"Indonesia is a nation of extraordinary significance to Australia. We share a commitment to values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law”. 

Our West Papuan  friends would not agree with Malcolm Turnbull’s opinion that  Indonesian is now a democracy as the suffer from ongoing human rights abuses with thousands arrested in the past year simply for taking part in peaceful rallies.  These arrests go against the principles laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is time that Australian governments dropped the mantra of “Indonesia is now a democracy and human rights abuses are a thing of the past”. The mass arrests of peaceful activists throughout the year proves otherwise. 

Australia should follow the lead of the 7 Pacific leaders who raised the issue of West Papua at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2016.  Support the call by the Pacific Islands Forum for a PIF fact finding mission to West Papua and stop training the Indonesian military

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More photos from GLW Facebook page

Protesters says: Remember West Papua!

38 Photos · Updated 41 minutes ago

While Indonesian President Joko Widodo began his state visit to Australia protesters took to Sydney streets on Feb 26 to put the ongoing human rights abuses and denial of self-determination in West Papua on the public agenda. PM Malcolm Turnbull was expected to sweep this important issue under the carpet.

 Photos by Pip Hinman and Peter Boyle for Green Left Weekly.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/greenleftweekly/photos/?tab=album&album_id=991131521018707