Jayapura, Jubi – A human rights group condemned Jayapura Municipality Police for mishandling a peace protest to demand justice over the Paniai Case, 8 December 2014. “We regretted that in the forced dissolution of peace demonstration, there are numbers of students, activists, youths, and seminarians had been arrested, tortured and dumped into the Police’s truck to be brought to the Abepura Police Station,” said Solidarity for Papua Human Right Violation Victims (SKP-HAM). “The Police also acted arrogantly and violently to the pressmen (reporters from Jubi, Cepos) who wanted to cover the demonstration,” the Coordinator of SKP-HAM Papua, Paneas Lobber said in KontraS Papua Office on Friday (09/10). The observer on International Affairs from Cenderawasih University, Marinus Yaung said the rally held on last Thursday (08/10/2015) was not against the Law of the Republic of Indonesia, so the Police could not disperse it with easy. “We are still asking and demanding the President Joko Widodo to fulfill his promise on resolution of Paniai Case when he came to Papua on National Christmas event last year. Thus, the Police must know and understand the flow of the rally,” he said. In order to respond the action of forced dissolution, SKP-HAM made statements as follows: (1) the demonstration on Thursday (08/10) have been conducted in a peaceful, in which the mass did not delivery speeches of separatism and did not conduct anarchy, thus it couldn’t be forcedly dispersed by the Police; (2) The act of forced dissolution by the Police is a cruel act that stain the value of humanity and makes people no longer dare to express their opinion and voice the truth in public though it’s guaranteed by Indonesian Constitution; (3) Condemns the forced dissolution by the Police because it does not respect the freedom of gathering, the freedom of expression and the freedom to voice aspirations that guaranteed by the principles of democracy; (4) Demands the responsibility and professionalism of the Police officers in tackling the peace demonstrations; (5) Asks the Papua Police Chief to dismiss the Jayapura Municipal Police Deputy Chief Albertus Adreana who had been careless and anarchy in tackling the peace demonstration by SKP-HAM. (Abeth You/rom)
