NEWS - Peaceful Gathering Fired Upo

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Peaceful Gathering Fired Upon by Indonesian Army

Title: Peaceful Gathering Fired Upon by Indonesian Army
 Date: 07-DEC-99
 Author: None
 Source: opmsg <opmsg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> by way of savage
<savage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 Style: Action Update
 Reference: http://www.eco-action.org/
 
 On the 2nd December, the day after the ceremonial flag raisings
happened all
 over West Papua, to demand independence from Indonesia, a large group
of
 people gathered in front of the church in Nimika, in the central
highlands,
 praying.
 
 About a thousand people had been standing in front of the church very
 peacefully, just praying and not causing any trouble. Then the police
and
 military arrived, and immediately approached the crowd in rows. They
just
 started shooting, without warning. They came with helicopters and hand
 grenades. They had German weapons and and Mercedes and Unimoq (military
car
 from Germany) vehicles.
 
 Our contacts there said that several hundred people were in the
hospital,
 suffering from serious injuries. So far three people are known to be
dead.
 Among these there was an old woman, only taking a walk in the sun. She
just
 came there not expecting anything coming over the bridge and they shot
her
 from the front.
 
 The people there are particularly upset that there has been no reaction
or
 even interest from the west. Nobody is coming there or wants to get
more
 information about what is going on. 
 
 There were a few western journalists there but they fled at the first
sign
 of trouble, and the press has printed lies about what happened.