- Title: Indonesia: Demonstrators In Aceh Province Demanding A Referendum On Independence
- Date: 8th November 1999
- Summary: More than half a million people have flooded the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province to demand a referendum on independence in the largest separatist protest yet to shake the multi-ethnic archipelago. Hundreds of thousands converged on a mosque in the city of Banda Aceh, shouting "Independence!" and "Referendum!" "We want a referendum for the Acehnese people, - we want to be free from the Indonesian government, this is a referendum ceremony in Aceh, we want to make a decision to be free and independent," said a protester. A crowd of around 400 people marched on a prison in the city, and helped 117 prisoners to escape, a prison guard said. Separatist tension has simmered in Aceh for decades, fuelled by resentment of Jakarta's perceived plundering of the area's natural resources and by army brutality. Demands for a referendum on the province's future became more insistent after Indonesia allowed the former Portuguese colony of East Timor to vote on independence in an UN-supervised ballot.
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- Location: INDONESIA BANDA ACEH PROVINCE
- Reuters ID: LDL0012BV6WBF
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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- Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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