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JAKARTA, April 27 (Reuters) – Students and civilians clashed with law enforcement personnel in Indonesia’s insurgency-hit Papua on Monday during a protest attended by \u200chundreds of residents demanding the withdrawal of military personnel from the \u200cregion, a police official said.<\/p>\n
A military operation conducted in the region earlier this month allegedly resulted \u200bin the death of 15 people, including women and children.<\/p>\n
The operation was carried out against armed separatists who have sought independence for the resource-rich Papua region since 1969, when a vote overseen by the United Nations brought it under Indonesian control following \u200cmore than six decades \u2060of Dutch colonial rule.<\/p>\n
The country’s human rights watchdog last week confirmed the deaths and called for the government to review operations in \u2060the region. The military has yet to acknowledge the casualties.<\/p>\n
On Monday, around 800 protesters rallied in three locations in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura, before gathering in \u200bthe city \u200bcentre, said Cahyo Sukarnito, the spokesperson for \u200bthe Papua provincial police.<\/p>\n
They called \u200con the government to withdraw the military from all of Papua’s six provinces, and ensure that decades of violence were brought to an end, Cahyo told Reuters, acknowledging that the deaths during recent military operations had sparked local anger.<\/p>\n
Tear gas and a water cannon were deployed to disperse protesters in one location after \u200cthey threw rocks at the police, Cahyo said. \u200bHe said five police personnel were injured but \u200bthere were no report of \u200binjuries among the protesters.<\/p>\n
Footage from local media Tribun Papua showed \u200cpolice personnel in protective gear carrying batons \u200bas they approached \u200bthe protesters.<\/p>\n
Once the clashes abated, the demonstrations continued peacefully and several regional lawmakers arrived on site to meet protesters and listen to their demands.<\/p>\n
Papua \u200bis home to the world’s \u200csecond-largest gold and copper mine, Grasberg, which is owned jointly by \u200bthe Indonesian government and U.S. mining giant Freeport.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; \u200bediting by Gibran Peshimam and David Stanway)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n