Bitung – Twelve activists have been arrested following a peaceful action by Greenpeace activists and four members of the band Boomerang who occupied a palm oil supply ship and refinery in Bitung, North Sulawesi operated by a unit of Singapore’s Wilmar International.

To foreign activists meanwhile, Kat Woskett from Australia and Farhan Nasa from Malaysia, were detained by the local immigration office.

According to a Greenpeace source, 12 people were arrested by the Bitung district police. There are currently being questioned in relation to the action which was part of the Global Forestry Campaign for Indonesia in Bitung on Tuesday September 25.

The action began at around 4am and ended at around 6pm local time. Based on information obtained by InfoA1.id from Kat Woskett and Farhan Nasa, there is a possibility that they will be deported by the Bitung immigration office.

During the action, two photo journalists from the Antara state news agency and InfoA1.id followed the protest action through to the end. Both journalists were arrested by Bitung police but release a short time later. (SR)

Notes

For a more complete report on the protest itself see the Reuters article “Indonesia activists abseil down refinery tanks to protest deforestation” (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-greenpeace-protests/indonesian-activists-abseil-down-palm-refinery-tanks-in-deforestation-protest-idUSKCN1M51EU).

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was 12 Aktivis Greenpeace Diamankan Polres Bitung.]

Source: http://infoa1.id/index.php/2018/09/25/12-aktivis-greenpeace-diamankan-kepolisian-polres-bitung/