West Papuan Refugees Flee to Australia After Cultural Ceremony with Indigenous Australians | freedom flotilla

26.9.13

West Papuan Refugees Flee to Australia After Cultural Ceremony with Indigenous Australians | freedom flotilla: The peaceful ceremony was the culmination of the Freedom Flotilla from Australia to West Papua, and was intended as a symbolic reunification of the peoples and struggles of Indigenous West Papuans and Australians. However, it had to be conducted in secret after Indonesian authorities refused permission for the Australian participants to enter Indonesian waters and threatened to arrest or respond violently to their arrival.

Indonesian authorities also refused permission for Papuans to hold a welcoming ceremony for the Freedom Flotilla in their destination port of Merauke, where police and military surrounded the house of the welcoming committee’s chairman Jhon Wob. Despite this intimidation, a small ceremony was held later in the day at a remote beach, sending origami boats south towards the Australian mainland.