Dayak people holds protest against Indo Muro Kencana

Dozens of the Dayak Siang people of the Central Kalimantan province held on Friday a demonstration at the Ministry of Women Affairs in Jakarta protesting the capturing of their wives and children by the local police.

The Dayak people said that the police caught their women and children when occupying the mining site of gold mining firm PT Indo Muro Kencana in protest of unfair land transaction in the past.

One of the protesting Dayak people identified as Osing was quoted as saying that his wife had not arrived home since she was caught by the police on March 14.

Thousands of people had earlier occupied the mining site of Indo Muro. But the police recently evicted the protesters following threat from the gold mining firm that it would leave the province if the authority failed to resolve the land occupation and looting of the gold reserves. The company had accused illegal miners were behind the land occupation. (*)