[Kabar-indonesia] 40 Freeport Protesters in Papua Questioned by Police

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

Indonesia questions 40 Freeport protesters in Papua

JAKARTA, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia police are questioning 40 illegal miners 
who held an unruly protest at the Grasberg mine in Papua province run by U.S. 
firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., a police spokesman said on Friday.

Around 200 people protested on Thursday against Freeport's clampdown on 
illegal mining and demanded the company provide such miners another line of 
employment, said Papua police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra.

"The management did not want to see them so they ran after security officers 
with machetes, knives and other traditional weapons. They also wanted to take 
ore so we drove them out and confiscated their weapons," he said.

Kartono said the police had begun interrogating 40 of the protesters soon 
after the Thursday rally, which did not affect mine production nor leave anyone 
injured.

There have been sporadic protests against the Grasberg mine this year, both 
in Papua and Jakarta.

A road blockade by mostly illegal miners shut down operations for four days 
in February.

The illegals often enter mining areas in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago 
of 17,000 islands with huge deposits of metals as copper, gold and tin.

The Freeport operation has been a frequent source of controversy in 
Indonesia, with issues ranging from its impact on the environment and the share of 
revenue going to native Papuans and the Papua government to the legality of 
payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site.

Some protesters have demanded closure of the lucrative mine, believed to have 
the world's third-largest copper reserves and one of the biggest gold 
deposits. One such protest left four security officers dead in March near the 
province's main university after protesters retaliated with force when police tried 
to break up the rally. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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