Pacific

Monks released after arrest for protest in Papua

10:27 am on 14 October 2015

Indonesian authorities have reportedly released a group of Catholic monks who were detained on Friday at a peaceful protest.

Asia News reports the Franciscan and Augustinian monks were taken into custody from in front of Abepura's Good Shepherd Catholic Church.

They were protesting the death of a student from Paniai, whose alleged murder on December the 8th last year remains unsolved.

Fr Yulianus Pawika told journalists the protesters came from many walks of life, and had no political intentions.

He says the monks came to Papua in 1936, "out of love for the people, not the state."