West Papua Information Kit

Man shot at UN Indigenous Day

THE Australian-based Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights (IPAHR) has reported the fatal shooting of a man in Wamena in the Indonesian-ruled West Papua on Saturday.

IPAHR spokesman Matthew Jamieson said the man identified as Opinus Tabuni, 35 was short during a gathering to celebrate United Nations Indigenous Peoples Day.

"Mr Tabuni is said to have been shot in chest and killed after Indonesian security forces fired into the crowd at about 3.45 pm today (Saturday)", Jamieson said.

Tabuni was an organiser for the tribal council in the Wamena region (Lapago) one of the groups lobbying for West Papuan independence.

IPAHR reported that four flags -the UN flag, the Indonesian flag, the West Papuan Morning Star flag and the SOS emergency flag - were raised during the event.

Thousands of people had gathered in Wamena city to mark UN. Indigenous Peoples Day when the incident happened.

The Morning Star is a banned separatist flag.

Leader of the Papua Tribal Council, Fadhal Alhamid, said when the police saw the flag, they immediately fired warning shots and somebody screamed someone that had been shot.

The demonstrators reportedly refused to move from the site of the demonstration until there is international intervention in West Papua.

There have been no official confirmation of the fatal shooting.

Human rights violation against pro-independence activists in West Papua often go unreported in mainstream media due mainly to a tight control over local media by Indonesian authorities.

Source: http://fijidailypost.com/news.php?section=1&fijidailynews=18126

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