Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops killed at least six people Wednesday as thousands streamed toward the capital of the province of Aceh for a massive two-day pro-independence rally, residents said.
Efforts to join the rally – which starts on Friday, the first anniversary of a public call for a referendum on self-determination for Aceh – were blocked in some places by security forces.
At least six people were shot dead in two separate incidents as troops tried to block traffic heading for the rally from the districts of East Aceh and Pidie.
In the Blang Pidie subdistrict in South Aceh, troops opened fire on a convoy of buses loaded with hundreds of residents trying to reach Banda Aceh, killing five men, a local journalist said.
The five were killed after they jumped out of their truck because they were terrified when the troops first fired warning shots to the air, he said. At least four other men were wounded in the shooting.
Another man was shot dead earlier in the day by policeman manning a street barricade after he and several others attempted to push the barbed wire aside. Razali, the victim, had been among hundreds of people whose convoy of more than 10 trucks were blocked by road barricades in Idie Rayeuk in East Aceh. They were heading for Banda Aceh, a local journalist said.
In another incident, a policeman on routine patrol, was shot and injured by unknown gunmen in downtown Banda Aceh.
Hundreds of police from the mobile brigade, a mass control unit, were standing guard along the coast of Banda Aceh and the surrounding Aceh Besar district to prevent people from coming in by boat from other regions.
Meanwhile, hundreds of buses and trucks carrying residents from East Aceh had managed to enter the capital, joining protesters from northern Aceh who arrived here Tuesday.
The two-day rally is set to take place on Friday and Saturday at Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman grand mosque. Almost one million people gathered there peacefully on November 8 last year to demand a vote on self-rule.
The chief rally organizer, Muhammad Nazar of the Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA), criticized the security forces' action and said the rally would be peaceful. "The fact is, last year, we were able to hold a rally like this peacefully ... without a single incident. Why are they trying to prevent peaceful and unarmed citizens from attending the rally?" Nazar said he feared the "public will put up resistance" if troops try to prevent them from entering Banda Aceh.