Five thousand protesters yesterday burned a provincial parliament building in Indonesia's Aceh province after parliamentarians rejected demands for a referendum on self-determination, a report said.
The state Antara news agency said security forces fired on the crowd when they later marched to the nearby district military command in the West Aceh district capital of Meulaboh and tried to force an officer there to lower the Indonesian flag. The violence in west Aceh came a day after a soldier was killed and two others wounded in North Aceh district, reports and the military said.
Meanwhile, the chief of the regional military command overseeing Sumatra island, Maj Gen Rahman Gaffar, said he welcomed an order by President Abdurrah man Wahid to conduct an inquiry into the alleged massacre of 51 civilians by soldiers in West Aceh in late July. Aceh is the westernmost province on Sumatra.
"We don't mind the investigation . . . in principle anyone guilty of violations must be punished," he said. "We are still awaiting guidance from the central investigation team to conduct a probe into human rights violations in Aceh, including inhumane acts committed by GAM [the separatist Free Aceh movement], who have killed scores of innocent soldiers and police."
Discontent in Aceh has led to mounting calls for an East Timorstyle referendum on self-determination, and last week tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital of Banda Aceh to demand independence.