Geoff Spencer, Jayapura – Tensions between Indonesian forces and separatists pushing for Irian Jaya's independence exploded into violence Saturday when police fired on a group of bow-and-arrow-wielding separatists during a clash. Eight people were killed.
Gen. Sylvanus Wenas, a top police commander in the troubled province, said the two sides clashed after the separatists tried to raise an outlawed rebel flag in the southeastern town of Merauke. He said the independence supporters challenged police during the flag-raising ceremony and also fired arrows at settlers from other parts of Indonesia, wounding three.
Wenas said seven separatists were killed. Local police said an eighth man, a taxi driver from Java island, died from his injuries later. It was not known whether the taxi driver was one of the settlers, nor was it clear whether the separatists physically attacked police before the officers opened fire.
The deaths bring to 10 the number of people killed during the past two days as the restive province marks the anniversary of a failed 1961 independence bid. The anniversary has prompted a security clampdown in the region.
Irian Jaya, a mineral-rich, jungle-covered province 2,500 miles west of Jakarta, is one of several regions pushing for more freedom from the sprawling Indonesian nation of 17,000 islands and 210 million people.
In 1961, tribal chiefs here declared independence from Dutch colonial rule. The independence move failed, and two years later Indonesia seized the region. Independence activists have been battling Indonesian rule ever since.
In June, 501 tribal leaders declared independence and named their homeland West Papua. Across the region, people pulled down the Indonesian flag and raised the red, blue and white "Morning Star" independence flag.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has ordered tough action against secessionists and has vowed to keep his crisis-ridden country from breaking apart. Earlier this week, senior police warned they would shoot violent troublemakers during the Irian Jaya independence rallies.
The first two deaths came Friday in Fak Fak on the province's west coast, where police shot two men to death after about 50 tribespeople staged a pro-independence protest and then rioted. Wenas said police there opened fire when the mob attacked them with bows and arrows.
On Saturday, heavily armed Indonesian police seized control of a cultural center in the provincial capital, Jayapura, that had been occupied by the ragtag separatist movement for the past year.
Riot police with guns, shields and batons entered the building soon after dawn. In a gesture of conciliation, officers said some activists could stay temporarily as long as no rebel flags were raised at the site.
There was no resistance by the separatists, who have been cowed by a heavy military and police presence and several arrests over the last few days. Four senior secessionist leaders have been detained, and two have been charged with subversion.
On Friday night, police pulled down a "Morning Star" flag outside the cultural center in Jayapura as hundreds of independence supporters watched in silence at the end of a day of subdued protest. Some protesters sobbed as their flag stopped flying.
"We allowed them to lower it to protect our people's safety," said Katerina Yabansubru, a senior pro-independence activist. "It is only a symbol. It doesn't mean our freedom struggle is over."
Analysts in Jakarta said Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri – whose father, former president Sukarno, occupied the province in 1963 – had demanded that security forces crack down on separatists in Irian Jaya and Aceh, another independence-minded region on the western end of the country.