fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

30 September 2005, Around 12 pm the first people were already present getting prepared for the Free West Papua demo which was organised by “stichting Pro West Papua”. Mr. Benny Wenda of the “Chair of DeMMak (The Koteka Tribal Assembly)” International Lobbyist in the UK for a Free West Papua and Mr. Richard Samuelson of the Free West Papua Campaign (www.freewestpapua.org) were also present at Malieveld, The Hague.
Between 1.30 and 2 pm the protest rally started and right from the beginning the Melanesian Soul was present which made sure it would be a passionate but peaceful protest.

Mr. Oridek Ap was leading the group in traditional Papuan Clothing with ritual dances and songs. Behind him there were some 200 protesters; among which lots of Dutch West Papua veterans, Papua’s and their Moluccan Melanesian brothers who showed their solidarity with the West Papua struggle for independence.

At the building of the Dutch parliament a petition was offered to the Dutch government. After the petition was handed over to the government, the group walked back to the starting point. A small delegation left for the office of foreign affairs to talk about the rights to Self determination of the West Papua people.

full picture report here
http://fkmcpr.nl/?page=2748