Images showed anti-riot police deployed with heavy equipment, and gunshots were heard ARDILES AFP
Jakarta announced last year it was considering making six new provinces in the region, home to a decades-old rebel insurgency.
It said the shake-up would accelerate development and make it easier to govern, but many Papuans fumed that they were not consulted, and the move would tighten the capital's control over the mineral-rich region.
In March, two people were killed and several others injured when a protest against the plan turned violent in Papua's Yahukimo district.
On Tuesday, thousands gathered in several locations near the provincial capital Jayapura to reject the plan, with similar protests in other parts of the country.
Authorities used water cannon to disperse the protesters in Waena, on the outskirts of Jayapura, national police spokesman Gatot Repli Handoko told AFP.
"The students were blocking the road which was disturbing the public and the officers opened the blockade. At that time we did use water canon to disperse the mass," he said.
Images showed anti-riot police deployed with heavy equipment, and gunshots were heard.
More than 1,000 police officers were sent to the protests in Papua.
At least one person -- identified only as JW -- was arrested, for allegedly spreading provocation and fake news ahead of the protest.
Local media reported that it was Papuan activist Jefry Wenda.
"He was arrested for spreading fake and provocative news which he spread through social media prior to the demonstration," Handoko said.
Papua's ongoing insurgency aims to gain independence from Indonesia, which took control of the former Dutch colony in the 1960s.
In 2019, at least 20 died in neighbouring West Papua province during a clash between security forces and protesters following days of violent unrest to protest against racism towards Papuan students in the country's second-biggest city, Surabaya.
A human rights organization in Indonesia’s restive Papua province came under attack from an unknown assailant who threw what was thought to be Molotov cocktails at its offices.
A man wearing a hat, black sweater and face mask was seen fleeing the offices of the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) in provincial capital Jayapura on a motorcycle just before a fire engulfed a motorcycle and scorched a car parked in the office’s garage.
“We believe they were used by the perpetrator who knew the right time to attack — when things were pretty quiet,” he said, adding the fire was extinguished very quickly before it had a chance to spread.
“These cases include illegal logging and gun ownership. We assume that one of these cases was the motive behind the attack. But I cannot be sure,” Gobay said.
“Obviously, we want the police to get to the bottom of what happened, arrest the perpetrator and tell us why we were targeted. The incident also highlights the need for the government to improve protection for human rights defenders, particularly in Papua province where there are many rights violations.”
A similar attack in September 2021 targeted the Legal Aid Institute’s Yogyakarta office.
The Humanity Coalition for Papua, an umbrella group of rights organizations including the Papua Franciscans' Secretariat for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), condemned the attack, calling it “an assault against democracy.”
“If it is ignored, such intimidation will create a situation in which human rights defenders will always live in fear while a feeling of insecurity will pervade among the Papuan people.”
Yuliana Langowuyo, executive director of the JPIC, said the incident has put her organization on full alert.
“It’s not the first such attack against human rights defenders in Papua. Last year a journalist’s car was badly damaged,” she told UCA News.
Papua police spokesman Senior Commissioner Ahmad Mustofa Kamal called on people to stay calm and not be provoked by those looking to create chaos in the province.
Secretary of the Directorate General of Health Services of the ministry Azhar Jaya conveyed the statement at the inauguration ceremony of the hospital here on Monday.
He drew attention to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin's target that within the next two years, the ministry will have issued a decree (SK) on the appointment of West Papua RSUP as a referral hospital for heart, stroke, kidney, and cancer patients.
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In addition to the four diseases, the hospital will be readied for maternal and child treatment, especially to deal with obstructed labor (dystocia) since these health conditions carry a high risk of death in various regions across Indonesia.
“Hence, the minister’s goal will also be realized immediately in every provincial hospital in Indonesia," the secretary stated.
The ministry will collaborate with the West Papua Provincial Government to improve the class of the hospital from Class C (district level) to B (provincial level), as well as prepare various supporting facilities, equipment, and human resources required in each medical expertise, he noted.
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He expected that after the inauguration, the local government will immediately resubmit the operational permit of West Papua RSUP to the ministry to change it from Class C Operational Permit to Class B Operational Permit and complete the requirements to become a class B hospital.
"Thus, in future, we must make more preparations for the hospital to give the best service for the people of West Papua Province,” Jaya noted.
He remarked that if the provincial government decides to use the special autonomy (Otsus) fund to improve the hospital, then the ministry is ready to offer additional support in future through the special allocation fund (DAK).
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