At least 1,000 students in the Indonesian province of Papua staged a protest outside the Yahukimo district local authority office to demand that members of the police force leave their school premises.

The local government allowed police to camp at three schools – the high school in Ninia and Angguruk villages and a vocational high school in Dekai village – following clashes between tribes and between security officers and the Organization for Human Rights. independence of Papua (OPM) last October.

The presence of the Mobile Brigade Corps has hampered the studies of at least 600 students for more than three months, activists say.

“We have asked the district school authority to look for a solution and withdraw the police,” Denias Helembo, the protest action coordinator, said on January 20. “If the local government is not careful, we will hold more protests with parents.

Esau Miran, deputy regent of Yahukimo, said he would ask Yahukimo police chief Deni Herdiana to move the schools’ mobile squads.

Several rights institutions and activists, including the Papua Legal Aid Foundation, have petitioned Vice President Ma’ruf Amin for his intervention in the case.

National police chief expected to take softer approach in Papua and West Papua provinces

“We have requested the Vice President as Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Integrated Coordination Team for Accelerating Welfare Development in Papua and West Papua Provinces to direct members of the Brigade Corps reason to leave schools,” said Emmanuel Gobay, director of the Legal Aid Foundation.

He said the national police chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, had even ordered the Papua police to leave the schools.

“The national police chief should take a softer approach in the provinces of Papua and West Papua,” Gobay told UCA News.

He urged the National Human Rights Commission in Jakarta and its representative in Papua to guarantee the right to education for students.

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The Yahukimo police chief assured protesters that he would immediately move the corps of the mobile school brigade.

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