SEVERAL hundred people were arrested yesterday at protests throughout Indonesia demanding independence for West Papua.

Arrests were made in cities in Sulawesi, Java and Papua, but demonstrations went ahead in at least 15 places, said Veronica Koman, a lawyer for independence activist Filep Karma.

Police in the capital Jakarta had warned organisers against protesting but allowed a group of about 50 people to march down a main road.

Yesterday marked the 55th anniversary of the official declaration of an Indonesian military campaign to liberate West Papua from Dutch colonialism.

The Dutch colonisers of the Indonesian archipelago maintained their grip on mineral-rich West Papua when Indonesia became independent after World War II.

It became part of Indonesia following a United Nations-supervised referendum in 1969, which was criticised for involving only a tiny proportion of the population and for Jakarta’s use of strong-arm tactics.

Supporters of West Papuan independence are demanding a second referendum, this time without state interference.

Indonesia maintains a tight grip on West Papua and restricts journalists from reporting there.

However, the independence movement appears to be increasingly well organised, with different groups united under an umbrella organisation that is seeking membership of an association of Melanesian island states.

More than 5,000 people have been arrested during pro-independence protests since April.

Ms Koman said that several people had been arrested last week when they applied for demonstration permits.

The headquarters of the pro-independence National Committee for West Papua in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, was vandalised during a police raid yesterday, she said.