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Papua police looking for suspects in Freeport mob attack

Source
Antara News - September 27, 2012

Timika, Papua – Police in Papua's Mimika district will use CCTV recordings to help identify members of a 300-strong mob that attacked a Freeport Indonesia office on Friday.

Mimika Police still have not named any suspects in the vandalism of the Freeport office in Kuala Kencana and the arson of dozens of vehicles.

"Witnesses from the company's security offices are still being questioned," Sgt. Maj. Hempi Ona, a Mimika Police spokesman, said on Wednesday. "Freeport has filed a police report and the Mimika district police will seriously follow up on the case."

Aside from questioning witnesses, the police will question family members of David Beanal, the recently deceased Papua affairs manager for Freeport.

On Friday, the angry crowd set fire to two cars and threatened to burn down the Mimika district office of the gold mining company, a subsidiary of mining giant Freeport McMoRan failed to fulfill their demands.

The incident started during a meeting between relatives of David and the company's management.

David's family and the mob that later converged on the office wanted Freeport's absent president director, Rozik B. Soetjipto, to be present at the meeting to discuss their impositions.

Police believe that the perpetrators were David's relatives because the attack occurred simultaneously with a family-held religious service in his honor.

Hempi added that Freeport's office buildings in Kuala Kencana still have police lines encircling them for added security, and that the company has fixed the broken windows.

The office is still closed for business activities, as the police are still gathering data and calculating the material losses incurred from the incident.

Aside from shattering windows, the perpetrators also defaced other office equipment such as desks, chairs and computers.

One of the rioters attempted to set one of the rooms ablaze, but the fire was immediately contained and prevented from spreading to other parts of the building. Additionally, the mob burned dozens of motorcycles along with four cars parked in front of an office building

Throughout the service, people who claimed to represent local residents made their ire known: they urged Freeport to provide employment for Papuans in the company's community development and Papua affairs units, as well as provide promotions for current employees.

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