The Jakarta Post, March 23, 2006
Death toll in Papua clash rises to 5
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
A police officer died Wednesday from injuries suffered in last week's clashes with
protesters in Jayapura, raising the official death toll to five, a Papua Police
spokesman said.
Sr. Comr. Kartono Wangsadisastra said Mobile Brigade member First Brig. Suhad
Eko Pranoto, 28, who had been in a coma since last Thursday, died at 7:30 a.m. at
Abepura Hospital from head and spinal injuries.
"Eko's death brings the number of deaths in the bloody incident in front of
Cendrawasih University to five," Kartono said.
The native of Ngawi, East Java, was the fourth police officer killed in the incident, while
an Air Force soldier also died. All five were involved in efforts to break up a rally on
March 16, when protesters blocked a road near the campus in Abepura in the
provincial capital of Jayapura.
Eko suffered a fractured skull and damaged spine after security officers were hit by
stones thrown by protesters, who were demanding the closure of the gold and copper
mine run by PT Freeport Indonesia.
Kartono explained six other police officers were still being treated at Bhayangkara
Hospital in Jayapura, with one scheduled to undergo surgery for head injuries.
Eko's body was flown from Jayapura to Surabaya later Wednesday for burial in his
hometown.
Meanwhile, the Papua Legislative Council (DPRP) decided Tuesday to postpone for
two months its plan to hold a plenary meeting to discuss the mounting demands for
the closure of Freeport's mine.
DPRP deputy speaker Komarudin Watubun said the postponement of Wednesday's
meeting was made after taking security into consideration and also the unavailability
of complete data needed for assessment.
Last week's clashes underlined the hatred many Papuans feel toward the military and
police in Papua. The remote province is home to a decades-long separatist rebellion
and has seen scores of rights abuses by troops, according to AP.
Operations at the mine, believed to have the world's third-largest copper reserves and
one of the biggest gold deposits, were halted for four days last month before
demonstrators, mostly illegal miners, left the mine site near the town of Timika.
The mine is a flashpoint for disputes of many kinds. Some demonstrators are not
interested in closing it but want a bigger share of proceeds to go to local people and
regional governments, Reuters reported.
In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, about 500 protesters, including
Papuan students studying on the island, held an anti-Freeport rally Wednesday.
The demonstrators burned a U.S. flag in front of a monument marking Indonesia's
takeover of Papua in the 1960s after centuries of Dutch colonial rule.
Similar demonstrations were held in the cities of Mamuju in South Sulawesi,
Surabaya and Bandung.
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