Abepura Riots - 16 March 2006 - extremely violent! This footage was smuggled out of Indonesia by West Papua independence activists. The videos were shot on the 16th of March 2006 in Abepura outside Jayapura at the Cenderawasih University. It shows extremely violent clashes between Papuan students and Indonesian police forces. It was the last of 3 months of protests taking place all over West Papua and in Jakarta, calling for the closure of the American owned Freeport-McMoran copper mine at Tembagapura and Timika. The protest focused on environmental destruction and human rights violations carried out by Freeport funded Indonesian security forces. The students were sparked into protesting by an incident in January 2006 when 2 Papuans were shot dead whilst panning for gold in their own ancestral land but in a river running through the Freeport mining area. The protest turned into a battle. 4 Indonesian policemen got stoned to death and many more got injured. Several Papuans were shot at and many were wounded and arrested. The night of the 16th, the Indonesian military blockaded the University and came in with tanks and shot at students, forcing them to flee into the hills and go into hiding. 47 students hid in the jungle for 3 months. In 2009, 14 people are still in prison and 1 has died in prison. 20 people are still refugees in PNG (Papua New Guinea). by Claudio von Planta
