At least seven people were killed, six shot by Indonesian troops, when independence supporters ran amok in a coastal town in Irian Jaya on Saturday, police and hospital sources said.
It was the first violence since an agreement to lower separatist flags across the rebellious province went into effect at midnight Friday, the 39th anniversary of a historic but unrecognized claim to self-rule by ethnic Papuans.
The riot in Merauke, on Irian Jaya's south coast and 600 kilometers (372 miles) from Jayapura, contrasted with an uneasy calm in the provincial capital where the Morning Star flag was lowered without incident on Friday night.
First Sergeant Prapto told AFP that preliminary reports showed eight people died in Merauke, and at least one was a non-Papuan settler.
But Yunus, a nurse at Merauke public hospital said only seven bodies were received, six native Papuans and one settler.
The six Papuans died of bullet wounds and the settler, a taxi driver, was killed by an arrow, Yunus said by telephone.
John Rumbiak, a human rights activist in Jayapura, also said seven people died.
Rumbiak told AFP 500 Papuans raised the Morning Star flag at 7:00 am (2300 GMT Friday) on Merauke's central soccer field in defiance of the government ban.
When they refused to take it down, police pulled it down forcibly and, in the ensuing clash, fired into the crowd. The six dead men were shot in the head, he said.
Rumbiak said the seventh man was killed when Papuans dragged a group of settlers out of a passing taxi and beat them up.
"This is dangerous," a worried Rumbiak said. "What happened in Merauke today won't just happen there. It's going to happen in other parts of Irian Jaya. It could be today and tomorrow."
But in Jayapura, provincial police chief Brigadier General Sylvanus Wenas said another riot outside the town of Fak Fak on Irian Jaya's west coast in which two people died was not related to separatism.
On Saturday police in Jayapura were negotiating with the pro-independence militia, the Papua Taskforce, on whether they would leave their makeshift headquarters in the city's Cultural Center.
Police and members of the pro-independence Papuan Presidium agreed on November 9 that the Morning Star would fly for the last time on December 1, save for five designated tribal offices in the province.
Another part of the agreement was that the Papua Taskforce would vacate the Jayapura Cultural Center -- the site of the 1961 declaration of Papuan independence, which they have occupied since June -- on December 2.
Early Saturday, police including Wenas and Jayapura police chief Lieutenant Colonel Daud Sihombing entered the building and said they were guarding it together with the Taskforce.
More than 100 armed and helmeted riot police lined the streets outside the building, while some 80 Taskforce members and independence supporters milled around outside.
The flagpoles in front of the building remained empty.
Taskforce commanders agreed at dawn Saturday not to raise the flag there again, despite howls of protest from the rank and file.
Presidium member Zamrack Taime told the crowd he would push for police to allow the separatists to stay in the building.
"In 1961, the Papuan nation was born in this building. For that reason we Papuans want to stay in control of it," he said.
Later some spoke of their disappointment at a day on Friday, which they had hoped, would focus attention on their cause.
Indonesia has flatly ruled out independence for Irian Jaya, which is rich in timber, oil and gas, gold and other minerals.
Jakarta flew 1,300 crack troop reinforcements into the province ahead of the December 1 commemoration and arrested four top presidium leaders, charging them with treason.
Nine Taskforce members were also taken in for questioning on Friday, but Wenas said they were not under arrest -- JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AFP)
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