Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Five police officers sustained injuries while securing a chaotic demonstration rejecting the formation of a new autonomous region in Nabire district, Papua province, on Thursday.

Two motorcycle taxi drivers were also injured after demonstrators attacked them, chief of the Papua Provincial Police, Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri, said in Jayapura on Thursday.

The demonstration was one of the rallies organized in five different locations in the city. Fakhiri said that according to the report he received, the demonstration, which earlier ran peacefully, turned chaotic after a demonstrator suddenly tried to attack police officers.

When police officers tried to detain him, other demonstrators pelted stones at them, he added.

The demonstrators also reportedly robbed the motorcycle taxi drivers of their belongings. They reported the incident to the Nabire district police, he informed.

Asked if any of the demonstrators sustained injuries, he said he had not received a report on injured demonstrators.

At least eight demonstrators have been detained and interrogated at the Nabire police station in connection with the incident.

The eight have been identified by their initials as MK, YG, SK, YD, NG, YK, YG, and AG.

Fakhiri said the security situation in Nabire has gradually become conducive. However, police officers are still on standby, he added.

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