Police conducted the raid because their actions were considered an attack on the government,"Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Police dispersed the Papua People`s Congress in Jayapura in Wednesday because they considered the gathering to be an attack on the government, a senior minister said.
"Police conducted the raid because their actions were considered an attack on the government," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said here Thursday.
Djoko is in Mataram as a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s entourage for working visit to West Nusa Tenggara.
On Wednesday the police forcibly dispersed the gathering and subsequently arrested five people as suspects in a case of separatist activity.
"They are seeking to set up a state within the state and do not recognize the Indonesian president," he said.
Asked about the fatalities in the incident, Djoko said the dead bodies were discovered not at the location of the congress but elsewhere.
"A few people were indeed killed but this happened in other places and not at the congress venue during the police raid," he said.
Djoko said the wounds on the bodies were also not gunshot wounds but from sharp weapons.
"The case is still being investigated by the Papua regional police command," he added.
The five people arrested as suspects in connection with the separatist gathering were identified as Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Gladius Waromi, August Makbrawen Sananay Kraar, Dominikus Sorabut and Gat Wenda.
Four of them would be charged with violating several articles in the Criminal Code and one based on an article in Emergency Law Number 12 of 1951 for carrying a sharp weapon.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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