The destruction of the Timika Terminal facilities was triggered due to the forceful dissolution of striking employees by police on PT Freeports main road linking the Amamapare port with Timika and Tembagapura, near Check Point 28.
Being cornered, the striking masses ran for safety to Freeports old road and some others ran to the Gorong-Goroang Timika Bus Terminal.
"The employees burned the Terminal Office. There were no buses on fire," one of the Mimika Police officers stated at the Gorong-Gorong Terminal.
White smoke was seen rising high around the location.
After destroying and burning the Freeport facility at the Terminal, the mass of striking employees spread to a number of points in Timika City.
They targeted a number of labor supplier companies, which supply workers to PT Freeport, and its subcontractors, which over the last few months recruited new workers.
Some of the suppliers are PT Petrosea, PT Maipagela, and PT Buma Intinaker. But the destruction and burning at the PT Petrosea Office was foiled by the apparatus.
Until Saturday night, military personnel and Police officers continued to patrol the areas around Timika City.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
