Luke Massey
:The 'Aggressive Homosexual Community'? More Absurd and Dangerous Rhetoric from Tories
Natalie Bennett
:Jobs You Can Build a Life On: The British Economy Isn't Delivering
Stef Benstead
:The Reality of the Welfare Reform
Ben Acheson
:Syria's Lost Generation
Maggie Shinder
:A Means to an End - An Analysis on the Assisted Dying Debate
The State Visit to the UK of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been beset by protests against his government's human rights abuses in occupied West Papua.
On Wednesday I was arrested for unfurling a West Papuan flag as the Indonesian President's limousine departed Westminster Abbey, after being feted by senior Anglicans.
Such arrests are routine in the Indonesian-annexed state, but in London?
As I tried to raise the flag, unidentified men in plainclothes chased and wrestled me to the ground. I was then arrested by Metropolitan Police officers, who claimed the men who had manhandled me were Indonesian security. The police said they were arresting me at the request of the President's entourage. What? Since when can a foreign human rights-abusing President dictate who gets arrested in London?
Taking a leaf out of the heavy-handed tactics used by the Indonesian security forces in West Papua, the Met Police officers applied unnecessary, excessive force, given that I was no threat and was not resisting arrest.
I was stunned to be arrested for what was a peaceful, lawful protest. But perhaps I should not have been so naive. Similar bully-boy tactics are nowadays used all too often by the police to suppress legitimate, non-violent protests.
I was one of nearly 100 protesters who had gathered to protest at human rights abuses by the Indonesian regime, including activists from Free West Papua, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Survival International.
Instead of arresting me, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the person who should have been arrested on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, under British and international law.
The Indonesian President stands accused of complicity with crimes against humanity in the past in East Timor and currently in West Papua, involving the deaths of thousands of people.
It is appalling that the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and the Church of England are hosting a man who is implicated in mass murder. Well in excess of 100,000 West Papuan civilians have been killed by the Indonesian army.
A long, slow genocide is being perpetrated in West Papua.
Only last week, Indonesian security services opened fire on peaceful, unarmed pro-democracy protesters in West Papua.
As President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is responsible for the abuses committed by the police and military in West Papua. The buck stops with him.
Under Indonesia's tyrannical rule, West Papuans are denied basic human rights, including freedom of expression and their own cultural identity. Two Papuan men, Yusak Pakage and Filep Karma, have been jailed for 10 and 15 years respectively for merely raising the West Papuan flag.
By comparison to them, I was lucky. All that happened to me was arrest, a bit of rough manhandling and a spell in police custody.
Indonesia has much to hide and knows it. That's why foreign media and human rights groups are denied access to West Papua.
Indonesia annexed West Papua in the 1960s, when the Netherlands relinquished its south east Asian colonies. The West Papuan people never agreed to be a part of Indonesia. Jakarta maintains its rule by military force. It refuses to allow the people of West Papua the right to self-determination, in flagrant defiance of the United Nations Charter.
So why is the British government colluding with the President of an oppressive regime? Oil? Minerals? Timber? Arms sales? All four.
While the British state protected the leader of a human rights-abusing regime, I was arrested for a non-violent, legal protest, which involved nothing more sinister than holding a flag. I was deemed to have breached the peace. I was also threatened with further breach of the peace charges for "shouting loudly" and for what one police officer described as "pointing your finger at me in a way that I find intimidating."
A police officer intimidated by a pointed finger? Can you believe it? Are police officers nowadays really such ultra-sensitive souls? Heaven help us if they have to deal with hardened criminals with weapons. No wonder the streets are awash with crime. Timid police officers!
On arrest, I was put in rigid handcuffs. They were twisted by the police, which pinched the nerves in my wrist, causing agonising pain. It seemed like this was deliberate. I am still in pain a day later - not just my wrists but also my arm, shoulder, back, leg and foot.
Nevertheless, what was done to me is nothing by comparison to the daily brutalities inflicted on the heroic people of West Papua by the Indonesian army of occupation.
I am saddened that some police officers apparently have no respect for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest - rights and freedoms that have been hard won by the protests and sacrifices of many British people down the centuries.
I was detained unlawfully and deprived of my liberty for two hours. After being taken to Charring Cross police station, I was eventually released without charge. Clearly, the police knew they had over-stepped the mark and that the charges against me were baseless.
The Indonesian President's State Visit to the UK continues until 2 November. So will the protests. Free West Papua!
West Papua has been central to transnational relations&profits for sixty years, its just a subject the transnational corporations Standard Oil, Bechtel, and Ford Foundation did not tell the governments until the 1960s when they had to nab Papua or lose. And one thing businessmen don't like doing is loosing, so it is no surprise that Rio Tinto, BP, and Her Majesty have gotten in on the act.
The UK got its hands dirty in 1962 when Britain decided Pakistan and Indonesia could occupy West Papua, said it was in the interest of peace to appease Washington and Moscow who were bidding for Indonesia's control of the region. It's the same deal the Dutch had from 1605-1795, locals terrorized and kill while Europe profits.
Legally West Papua is a United Nations Trust territory, a non-self-governing territory under occupation which Britain and friends 'authorised' in 1962 promising they would respect self-determination by the Papuans in the future - of course the Rockefellers and Windsors prefer gold. It is a shame some readers think it is a joke. Hundreds of thousands have been killed on Britain and the UN's watch, and there is a dirty secret reason.
Separatist movements are rather unpopular. What if we get many many dwarf countries ..... I did feel for Timor Leste, but the experience with their independence has been too costly for all sides, I believe. Done is done, but the capacity of Australia to hold hands in the neighbourhood like we did with Timor Leste is limited.
The police, MPs, civil servants, some businesses, nearly all corporations .... they are all there floating on top of that pool.
Oh, those nasty rigid uncomfortable handcuffs. Would you have preferred zip ties? Pink fluffy ones that Anne Summers sell? 'The agonising pain...' You remind me of Zachary Smith in 'Lost in Space...' Oh, the pain, the pain...
Didn't you know 'one has to suffer for ones art.'
From unfurling a flag to shouting to waving your finger in a policeman's face. What exactly were you shouting for you to be arrested?
Any other 'details' you'd care to share with us? No?
Perhaps you can go stay with your fellow narcissitic at the Equadorian embassy. I'm sure they can squeeze in one more.
It's only a guess, but you strike me as the kind of permanently mildly angry person who gets very annoyed at spelling mistakes on comment threads and the influence of Europe on the kind of vinegar the British are allowed on their chips. A Professional Status Quoist. A Professional You've never Had It So Goodist. A Professional Hitchins Fan (both bro's). Who celebrates free speech as long as it's from the mouths of well paid comedians in expensive arenas and not from the mouth of a very brave and loud and out gay man.
What's the pay like?
As for you, your own agenda becomes apparaent when you feel it is neccessary to mention ''and out gay man.''
No-one else did.
Maybe you'd like to get on-topic now. But I doubt it.
His posted video is highly selective in not showing any shouting or 'finger waving.' Just why IS that?