Tambrauw – Three Greenpeace Indonesia activists and a young Papuan woman were arrested and taken to the Grogol Petamburan Sectoral Police (Polsek) station after unfurling banners and giving speeches about the impact of nickel downstreaming at the Indonesia Critical Minerals Conference and Expo in Jakarta on Tuesday June 3.
Greenpeace Global head of the Indonesian Forest Campaign, Kiki Taufik, said in a statement that nickel industrialisation had created environmental damage and horizontal conflicts in communities. "The three are activists, one young woman from Papua. Currently they're at the Petamburan Polsek", said Taufik.
Currently, the four are still being questioned at the police station. They were accompanied by a team of lawyers from the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD).
Taufik said he did not know for sure who reported the four activists, which resulted in them taken to the police station.
He noted that expressing opinions in public is a right that cannot be violated. "We have a legal team from TAUD, they are still being detained and have not been allowed to go home", said Taufik.
Taufik related how the four people had first been taken to the committee room to be interrogated after unfurling banners and giving short speeches in the middle of the conference.
"[They were] interrogated in the committee room, they were taken straight in at around 12.30 or 1 pm", he said.
The three Greenpeace activists and four Papuan youths unfurled the banners right when Deputy Foreign Minister Arif Havas Oegroseno was giving his greetings to the conference.
"The government is responsible for the environmental damage that occurred in Raja Ampat, in Papua. Save Raja Ampat", declared one of the activists from Papua who give a speech while unfurling a banner.
There were three yellow banners with black writing that they unfurled in the conference room. The banners read, "What's the true cost of your nickel?", "Nickel mines destroy lives" and "Save Raja Ampat from nickel mining" (in English).
According to Taufik, the environment and livelihoods of the people should not be sacrificed in the name of energy transition, especially through downstreaming nickel. He believes that local communities have been victimised by the exploitation of nickel in Raja Ampat and have only became spectators.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Indonesian government stop the mining activities and revoke concession permits on five islands in the Raja Ampat region.
"Enough, the area has been destroyed, their living space has been destroyed, there is no more place for them to live, to find food, then it has also closed off their livelihoods", said Taufik.
Taufik claimed that all of the Greenpeace activists who attended the conference did so legitimately and registered through the registration channel provided by the organiser.
"The Greenpeace Indonesia activists who went to the conference registered through the panel provided by the organiser", he said.
Police promise to release activists
Grogol Petamburan Sectoral Police Chief Commissioner Reza Hafiz Gumilang promised that the arrested activists would soon be allowed to return home.
"Currently they're still at Polsek, they'll be sent home shortly," said Gumilang when sought for confirmation by Tempo through an SMS message on Tuesday.
Gumilang explained that police made the arrests because the actions of the four activists had resulted in the minerals conference becoming unconducive. "We secured them so that the event could continue in a conductive manner", said Gumilang.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Teriak Save Raja Ampat, Empat Aktivis Greenpeace Ditangkap".]
Source: https://suarapapua.com/2025/06/03/teriak-save-raja-ampat-tiga-aktivis-greenpeace-ditangkap