Police forces in Jayapura have prevented a public panel discussion at the Ekspo Waena Complex on 27 March 2021. The event carried the title “West Papua National Seminar – Searching for a way out of human rights violations in West Papua”. Human rights activists, student representatives and academics (see photo, source: Jubi) had been invited to share their views on the human rights situation in West Papua. The police blocked access to the event location at Ekspo Waena and prevented participants from entering the complex, where the panel discussion was supposed to take place.
According to the organising committee, the police officers justified the police operation, arguing that it contradicted Indonesian State Ideology. The officers forced all participants and resource persons to leave Ekspo Waena. After being expelled from the event location, the organising committee spontaneously shifted the event to a student dormitory, where the panel discussion was able to take place. Though the police again came to the dormitory, the officers did not take any further measures to stop the event.
