Ari Saputra, Jakarta – At least 30 West Papuans demonstrated at the offices of PT Freeport Indonesia at the Plaza 89 building in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta, demanding that the Freeport mine in West Papua be closed down.

“They just take our natural resources. We are anxious and far from peace,” said West Papua People’s National Struggle League (LPNRPB) action coordinator Arkilaus Arnesius Baho, speaking in front of the Freeport representative building on Jl. Rasuna Said on Friday July 31.

The demonstrators also brought a large black banner with the demand “Close PT Freeport Indonesia” written on it and a number of posters with messages such as “Freeport is the culprit”, “Reduce military activities in mining” and “Freeport and the government are responsible for the Freeport incidents”, [referring to the series of recent fatal shootings in the vicinity of the mine – JB].

The demonstrators, who spilled over into the slow lane brought the flow of traffic to a complete standstill. Security was tight with scores of police monitoring the protest action. (Ari/aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]