A Morning Star flag was raised in front of the office of the Papuan People's Consultative Assembly in Jayapura, Papua, on Monday. The flag, which is the symbol of the West Papuan pro-independence movement, flew for thirty minutes.

A number of policemen arrived and took the flag down. They arrested three people from the assembly's office.

Okezone.com reported that the person who erected the flag was allegedly Samuel Yaru, a former political detainee who was imprisoned for rebel activities in 1998.

Samuel said the flag was the assembly's statement that Papua's special autonomy had failed to improve the quality of people's lives. "Papuans are still poor in their own land," he said.

There was no official statement from the police. Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Riyanto was not available for comment.