"(The demonstrators) deserve to be condemned, as they have destroyed the national news agency," Yudha stated.
Yudha has urged security personnel to tightly protect strategic offices until normalcy has been restored.
The government, especially the National Defense Forces (TNI) chief, must act promptly to placate tensions, so that the people will not engage in anarchic acts.
He vociferously denounced those anarchic acts that involved separatism, adding that they can, at no cost, be tolerated.
The TNI chief must mobilize his men to prevent anarchic acts and should not hesitate to take firm action against them since they reject four grand national consensuses covering the 1945 Constitution, state ideology of Pancasila, Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, and Unity in Diversity, he stated.
On Thursday, the residents of Jayapura, the Papua provincial capital, staged another protest against the alleged racist slurs targeting Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on Aug 16, but the rally turned violent.
The brutal demonstrators went on a rampage, vandalizing and setting ablaze several government buildings. The demonstrators also deliberately damaged the office of ANTARA national news agency in the city.
On Wednesday, a circle of violence also broke out in Deiyai District, some 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, Papua Province’s capital city, resulting in the deaths of an army soldier and two civilians. Related news: President orders crackdown on rioting, anarchy in Papua
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Translator: Imam Budi/Suharto
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
