Indonesian police have arrested hundreds of West Papuans who took part in a series of demonstrations across Papua region yesterday.
Indonesian police at a demonstration in the Papuan region Photo: Supplied / Whens Tebay
Reports emerging from the remote Indonesian region indicate police arrested over a thousand people who had marched to express support for the United Liberation movement for West Papua.
Demonstrators were also showing support for the meeting of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua currently underway in London.
Indonesian police at a demonstration in the Papuan region Photo: Supplied / Whens Tebay
Yesterday's protests in several of Indonesia's eastern cities came as West Papuans marked the anniversary of transferral of administration in the former Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia in 1963.
The Jakarta Globe reports that over 500 arrests were made at a huge demonstration in Jayapura.
The Asia Pacific Report noted that similar rallies in Merauke and Sorong also led to more than 100 arrests, with dozens more arrested in the Indonesian cities of Makassar and Semarang.