The Wire

As the world focuses its attention on the crack down of protestors in Tibet and China, similar actions are taking place much closer to home. The Australia West Papua Association say that 11 men have been jailed for carrying the national flag, the Morning Star, during a protest on March 13. Since the Indonesian government took control of West Papua in 1969 under the so-called “Act of Free Choice”, any calls for independence have been brutally oppressed. Today in Canberra the Association and their supporters are gathering at the Indonesian Embassy- calling for a referendum for West Papua and an end to the Indonesian military occupation.