JAKARTA – Indonesia has deployed security forces to a town in the breakaway eastern region of Papua after 10 people were killed during a riot sparked by rumours of a child abduction, officials said on Friday.
Angry locals in Wamena town attacked police with stones and arrows on Thursday, believing them to be holding a young girl's abductors, Papua province police spokesman Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo told AFP.
Police responded with lethal fire, killing eight people, the official said, adding that 23 others were injured in the riot and two were killed by the mob.
"The mob, who were increasingly anarchic, did not want to listen to the authorities and did not want to disperse when they were given warning shots, and even attacked the authorities with arrows," Prabowo said.
"Rioters burned 12 shops and one house. Several cars and motorcycles were set on fire."
At least 100 members of the security forces were sent from provincial capital Jayapura to stop the clashes as the situation escalated, Prabowo said.
The child's parents, meanwhile, had declared her safe, he added.
"The parents... stated that there was no kidnapping of their child," he said.
"The situation is under control."
Indonesia's military and police have long been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians during a decades-long insurgency seeking independence for the mineral-rich province.
A former Dutch colony, Papua declared itself independent in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control two years later.
A subsequent vote in favour of staying part of Indonesia was widely considered a sham. – AFP, February 24, 2023
