Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – High ranking police officers and reinforcements arrived at the Papuan highland town of Oksibil on Monday following an arson attack on the Pengunungan Bintang district police station.

"This morning, 26 members of the Brimob mobile police brigade arrived in Oksibil. Additionally, the chief and deputy chief of the Papua Police, as well as the heads of the Papua Police's internal affairs, security intelligence and detectives units came to provide special assistance," Sr. Comr. Sumerta Jayua, a spokesman for the Papua Police, said.

Sumerta said the incident began after the district police was told that three drunken men were extorting money from a passerby in Dabolding village.

"Four personnel went to the location to call on the men to halt what they were doing, but the group not only ignored the policemen but went on to attack them," he said.

One of the men tried to take a firearm off one of the policemen, but the officer resisted and hit the man with the butt of his rifle. The man fled.

However, according to Sumerta, rumor quickly spread that the police officer mistreated the three men, with some even saying that the three were killed by law enforcers.

"People started to get emotional and take to the street. The district police chief was forced to intervene to try and settle the matter," he said. "The locals continued to reject his efforts and began to pelt the homes of members of the district police with stones at around 10:00 on Sunday."

The protest took a violent turn, with the mob setting the district police station and vehicles alight. Three vehicles and 25 motorcycles, as well as the district police headquarters, were gutted by the fire.

Nine police men were injured in the incident, as well as one army first lieutenant and two civilians. "We have not made any arrests," Sumerta said.

Meanwhile, residents in Oksibil said on Monday that the town remained tense, with people afraid to leave their houses.

"We are still worried and are opting not to go to work because we fear that there may be more mob activity. Offices and stalls are also closed," one resident who declined to be identified said by telephone.

The house of a local public figure, tribal chief Yance Kalakmabin, which is located only 400 meters from the police station, was also set ablaze, the resident said. Yance was out of town when the incident took place, and people expressed fear that he would take revenge once he returned home.

The resident, however, relayed a different version of the incident, saying that it all started with members of the local district police checking vehicles at a roadblock.

During the check, they supposedly found a drunken man, who was then reported to be beaten until his head was bleeding. The report of the beating incensed the local population.

"I was in church when a mob, angered by the report that a citizen was beaten by the police, marched to the police station and set fire to several motorcycles," the source said. Police began firing shots in the air after the mob already left the station, the resident added.

A local public figure, who also declined to be named, said that the episode occurred because of the population's long simmering anger over the police's increased checkpoints.

He said that since Oksibil was part of Papua's hinterland, many residents did not possess driving permits. When the police began impounding their motorcycles and disturbing their daily lives, they became increasingly angry.

The public figured added that the fire which razed the house of the tribal chief was not started intentionally. He said that it only caught fire once the police began going after the mob, and that it was possible that one of the police's bullets may have sparked the fire.