Kerusuhan Jayapura, Polisi Tangkap 64 Perusuh, 28 jadi Tersangka
Dozens Arrested after Violent Papua Riots: Police
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
PULUHAN orang ditangkap karena kerusuhan di Jayapura, Provinsi Papua, kata polisi pada Minggu, setelah hampir dua minggu berlangsung unjuk rasa di Papua.
Kabar penangkapan tersebut muncul setelah pemerintah mengatakan akan mengerahkan tambahan 2.500 polisi dan TNI ke Papua, untuk mendukung kekuatan 1.200 personel yang sudah dikirim setelah kerusuhan dipicu oleh kemarahan atas rasisme dan tuntutan kemerdekaan.
Pada Kamis pekan lalu, lebih dari seribu demonstran melemparkan batu dan membakar toko-toko dan gedung pertemuan di Jayapura, ibukota Papua.
Itu terjadi sehari setelah bentrokan mematikan di bagian lain wilayah pulau itu, yang berbatasan dengan Papua Nugini.
Polisi mengatakan pada Minggu bahwa mereka telah menangkap puluhan orang yang telah mengambil bagian dalam kerusuhan dan 28 dari mereka diduga melakukan demo anarkis.
"Mereka sekarang di penjara sambil menunggu penyelidikan lebih lanjut," kata juru bicara Polda Papua, Kombes Ahmad Kamal.
Dua mahasiswa juga ditangkap di Jakarta pada akhir pekan lalu karena dituduh melakukan kejahatan terhadap keamanan negara, termasuk memiliki pakaian dengan gambar bendera Papua yang dilarang.
Pekan lalu, kekerasan berkobar di daerah terpencil Deiyai, tempat bentrokan antara pengunjuk rasa dan pasukan keamanan Indonesia menewaskan sedikitnya satu tentara dan dua demonstran tewas, menurut polisi seperti dikutip AFP yang dilansir MailOnline.
DOZENS have been arrested over rioting in the capital of Indonesia's Papua region, police said Sunday, following nearly two weeks of mass protests in the easternmost territory of the Southeast Asian archipelago.
The announcement came as Indonesia said it would deploy some 2,500 more police and troops to Papua, adding to about 1,200 personnel it had already sent after unrest sparked by anger over racism and calls for independence.
On Thursday, more than a thousand demonstrators hurled stones and set fire to shops and an assembly building in the provincial capital Jayapura.
That came a day after a deadly clash in another part of the island region, which shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea.
Police said Sunday they had rounded up several dozen people who had taken part in the riots and charged 28 of them over looting and carrying weapons.
"They're now in jail pending further investigation," said Papua police spokesman Ahmad Kamal.
Two students were also arrested in Indonesia's capital Jakarta at the weekend for alleged crimes against state security, including owning clothing with the image of Papua's banned flag.
This week, violence flared in remote Deiyai, where a clash between protesters and Indonesian security forces left at least one soldier and two demonstrators dead, according to officials.
There have been unconfirmed reports that security forces gunned down six protesters.
The unrest across Papua appears to have been triggered by the mid-August arrest of dozens of Papuan students in Java, who were also racially abused.
Jakarta took control of the former Dutch colony in the 1960s after an independence referendum widely viewed as a sham.
The impoverished region has been the scene of a low-level insurgency against Indonesia's rule for decades.
