Banned Marches Will Go Ahead In West Papua - Cause For Concern
The demonstrations and cultural parades will go ahead in West Papua despite a police ban. Already there have been a
number of arrests in the Fak Fak region. On the 13 August in the afternoon police stopped two trucks carrying dozens
of residents (including women and children) who were going into town to attend the cultural parade. They were taken to
police station to be questioned.
Joe Collins of AWPA said " the peaceful protests are planned to protest the signing of the New York Agreement in 1962
and to show support for the opening of the Free West Papua Campaign office in the Netherlands. The arrests in Fak Fak
raise great concern that the security forces will crackdown on the peaceful parades today.
ENDS