Banjir Ambarita – One person died in the chaos following the violent dispersal of the Third Papua People's Congress by security officials on Wednesday.
A university student named Melkias Kadepa was found dead at a plantation behind the 172 PWY Military Resort Command (Korem) in Abepura on Thursday morning.
Index: ASA 21/033/2011
Michael McKenna and Peter Alford – The military chief of West Papua's Jayapura district last night denied his troops had shot into a crowd of pro-independence activists and killed at least one.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-213-2011
Dear friends,
Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Police dispersed the Papua People's Congress in Jayapura in Wednesday because they considered the gathering to be an attack on the government, a senior minister said.
AWPA has written to the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd re crackdown by the security forces on delegates at the Papuan People's Congress.
Australian Greens Senator and spokesperson on West Papua, Richard Di Natale, is calling on the Australian government to suspend military cooperation with Indonesia.
PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of Freeport McMoran Cooper and Gold – of which 90.64 percent of the shares are owned by Freeport CEO James R. Moffet – is the largest mining company in the world. Freeport contributes 95 percent of the entire production of gold by Freeport McMoran and a significant percentage of its copper production.
A joint statement by TAPOL (UK), the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT, US) and East Timor Action Network (ETAN, US).
Warning shots fired by Indonesian soldiers were prompted by the reading of a declaration of independence by high-profile Papuan leaders in Jayapura on Wednesday, a regional military commander said.
Abepura – Indonesian Brimob Riot Police have forcibly broken up attempts to hold a memorial commemoration at the graveside of slain independence hero Theys Eluay today, where a prayer service was planned in remembrance of the first anniversary of a brutal crackdown by Indonesian security forces on the 3rd Papuan People's Congress.
Banjir Ambarita & Camelia Pasandaran, Jayapura – Dozens of people have been injured after Indonesian security forces pistol whipped or beat protesters with rattan canes and batons during a peaceful protest against Indonesian rule in Papua on Wednesday.
A local journalist at the scene of the "chaos" at the Papuan Peoples' Congress in Jayapura on Wednesday said shots from a nearby hill rang out as Papuan leaders declared their independence from Indonesia and began waiving the banned Morning Star flag.
Jayapura – Papua interim governor Syamsul Arif Rivai said that the third Papua people's congress, held from Oct. 17 to 19, was a form of democracy and guaranteed by the law, as long as it was not anarchic and its activities did not disturb others.
Participants of the Papuan Congress in the provincial capital of Jayapura were shocked at being greeted at the venue by five armored vehicles and hundreds of heavily armed police and military officers, an attendee of the congress said on Wednesday.
Jayapura – Scenes of jubilation and free expression have erupted in Jayapura, West Papua as over 20,000 delegates took part in the historic Third Papuan People's Congress.
Olivia Rondonuwu and Neil Chatterjee – When Freeport renewed its contract for one of the world's biggest copper and gold mines, some of Indonesia's top officials were on hand at the celebration, cheerfully applauding the CEO's impersonation of Elvis Presley.
AHRC-PRL-041-2011
Declaration – Forming Federal State of West Papua
On this day Wednesday, 19 October 2011 at the Third National Papua Congress, the people of Papua in Country of West Papua declare:
I. Proclamation recover and Restore the independence and sovereign of West Papua which was lost to Indonesia annexation on December 1, 1961.
AHRC-PRL-042-2011
Hong Kong – At around 3pm today the security forces surrounding the Third Papuan People's Congress in Indonesia opened fire and dispersed the event. Possible casualties are not known as of now. Several persons are reported to have been arrested, including Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, indigenous political leaders.
Ali Kutarumalos, Jakarta – Thousands of striking workers blockaded roads leading to Freeport-McMoRan Cooper & Gold Inc.'s mine in easternmost Indonesia on Tuesday, preventing food, medicine and other supplies from reaching holed-up staffers and their families.
Around 5,000 people on Monday swarmed Zhakeus Field in Padangbulan, Jayapura, Papua, to attend the opening of the 3rd Papuan People's Congress, which runs through Oct. 19. They came from seven customary areas in Papua as well as West Papua.
Banjir Ambarita & Ririn Radiawati Kusuma, Jayapura – The Indonesian unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan announced on Monday that it was suspending its operations in West Papua amid a suspected pipe sabotage and a blockade by striking workers.
Jayapura – The Third Papuan People's Congress opened in Jayapura today and took place in a field in the open air, after failing to get permission to use either the UNCEN auditorium or GOR, the sports stadium in Jayapura.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Another worker at giant copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), who was wounded in a clash with security officers at Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, on Oct. 10, died on Saturday at his home in Kwamki Lama.
Jakarta – Copper and gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia has been forced to halt production following a deteriorating security situation around its mining site in Grasberg, Papua.
Timika, Papua – Police said they have identified six people involved in an ambush on Friday at Mile 37, Tanggul Timur, Mimika, Papua, that left three people dead.
"There were five or six perpetrators," confirmed Papua Police Command spokesman Senior Commissioner Wachyono, when asked about the incident on Saturday.
Banjir Ambarita – At least three people were killed in an ambush on Friday near the Freeport-McMoRan Grasberg mine in the Mimika district of Papua, police said.
"Three Freeport workers died instantly from gunshot wounds," Papua police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said. "The [Mitsubishi] L300 that the victims were in was also set on fire."
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The remains of Petrus Ayamiseba, 36, a PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) worker who was shot dead on Oct. 10 during a clash with the police at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, was buried at the Christian cemetery on Jl. Cenderawasih, Timika, on Thursday.
Dozens of journalists demonstrated in Manokwari to protest against the beating of a colleague, Duma Tato Sanda, a journalist working for Cahaya Papua, who was beaten up by workers of Freeport during a clash in Timika and suffered from bruises and swelling in his cheeks, lips and his waist and was punched in the chest.
In connection with the shooting dead of Petrus Ayamiseba who worked at the catering department for workers at Freeport, the Dewan Adat Papua has declared that it is essential to withdraw army and police troops from area around the Freeport mine.
Yogyakarta – Scores of demonstrators from the People's Mining Militia held a free-speech forum in front of the Gedung Agung Presidential Palace in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Thursday October 13.
Nick Chesterfield and local sources – Plain clothes Indonesian police agents in Jayapura opened fire late on October 12 outside a student dormitory, in another violent act of security force intimidation before the Third Papuan People's Congress starts on October 16.
AWPA has written to the US Ambassador in Canberra (letter below) asking that the US Government investigate the killing of Petrus Ayamiseba to see if Freeport management is using the security forces and its own security staff to intimidate workers to return to work.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The world's largest publicly traded copper mining firm, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc., may have to wait a little longer to get its Indonesian operations back on track, pending a court ruling to settle a salary dispute with its workers.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The government will create an inter-ministry team to resolve long-standing salary and security problems involving mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia, according to a minister.
Officials in Puncak Papua have started moving children out of the conflict-torn district as the situation there continues to deteriorate.
An industrial dispute at the world's biggest gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province, has turned ugly, after a striking worker was shot dead by police. Seven others were critically wounded when officers tried to stop striking workers from going into a facility at the mining complex on Monday.
Jakarta – Thousands of Papuans rallied in front of the Papuan People's Assembly in Abepura, Jayapura, on Tuesday, demanding a referendum on the province's independence from Indonesia.
Nethy Dharma Somba Rangga D. Fadhillah, Jakarta/Jayapura – A PT Freeport Indonesia worker named Petrus Ayamiseba was shot dead when the police fired warning shots to stop protesting workers from entering Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, on Monday.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura, Papua – The situation in the highland district of Puncak Papua remained tense on Monday as a housing complex for local teachers was burned down in the continuing tribal war that has killed at least 27 people since late July.
Rendi A. Witular and Rangga D. Fadillah, Jakarta – The fatal shooting by police of a local worker of Freeport McMoran during a union protest on Monday will likely exacerbate a long-standing row between the US mining giant and its local stakeholders.
Banjir Ambarita, Farouk Arnaz & Ronna Nirmala, Jayapura – In an escalation of the long-running Freeport mine labor dispute, one man was shot dead on Monday and several more injured after a march of striking workers descended into a clash with police officers.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-204-2011
Dear friends,
Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Indonesia to investigate the use of "deadly force" by police who shot dead one protester and injured six others at a mining protest.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-202-2011
Dear friends,
Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence has condemned the shooting of Freeport workers who were seeking negotiations with the management of the company. Since the commencement of the strike on 15 September there has been no sign that the management is seeking to provide the space for dialogue which could accommodate the interests of the two sides.
Indonesian security forces opened fire on striking workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine early Monday, killing one and critically wounding another, a union official said.
Police said it was too early to comment and officials from Freeport, based in the US state of Arizona, were preparing an official statement.
The Indonesian authorities must immediately investigate the use of deadly force by police at a mining protest, Amnesty International said today after one protester was killed and at least six injured.
Jakarta – The People's Liberation Party (PPR) reports that a person was shot dead by security forces during a clash with thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia employees at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, West Papua, on the morning of Monday October 10.