Jakarta – More than 1,000 students and youths demonstrated peacefully in Irian Jaya Tuesday to demand quick answers over the murder of pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay last month, police said.

"There is no violence and so far the rally has proceeded peacefully. The only problem has been traffic congestion as they marched to the governor's office," Jayapura Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Daud Sihombing told AFP. He said the 1,000 demonstrators had marched some 20 kilometres from Abepura east of Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's easternmost province.

But Daniel Randongkir from the Elsham human right groups put the number of demonstrators at some 1,500. Randongkir said the protestors had come from Sentani, the hometown of Eluay, and from Abepura.

"They had basically two demands, the first that the case of the death of Mr Eluay be quickly settled and the second was to reject the upcoming visit to Jayapura by President Megawati Sukarnoputri," he said. The rally progressed peacefully, Randongkir added.

Megawati is scheduled to visit Jayapura on December 22 to celebrate Christmas in the largely Christian province and mark a special autonomy law for Irian Jaya that takes effect on that day.

The protestors had demanded a meeting with the local leaders of the administration, the security forces and parliament, but the governor was not in Jayapura. About 600 stayed behind after the others dispersed, saying they would camp in front of the governor's office.

Tensions have risen in Irian Jaya in the wake of last month's killing of Eluay. Police have yet to catch his killers. Eluay, 64, who headed the pro-independence Papua Presidium, went missing on November 10 while driving home from a ceremony at a base of the Kopassus special forces in Jayapura.