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TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least 21 people are dead in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, after police clashed with independence supporters. As Patricia

Nunan reports from Jakarta, the violence broke out after security personnel tried to prevent independence supporters from raising a flag.

Text: The clashes erupted Friday, when police pulled down a "Morning Star" flag of Irian Jaya's independence movement, shortly after it had been

raised. Security personnel fired into the crowd, many of whom were armed with bows and arrows.

But witnesses say much of the violence was carried out by independence supporters -- and directed against migrants from other parts of Indonesia. Witnesses say independence supporters rampaged through the city of Wamena. Many of the victims were shot, burned alive, beheaded or died from arrow wounds.

Wamena is roughly 2300 kilometers east of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Irian Jaya occupies the western half of New Guinea island -- and is called

"West Papua" by independence supporters.

Raising the "Morning Star" separatist flag is against Indonesian law -- and carries with it a 15 year prison sentence. Indonesian President Abdurrahman

Wahid has said the flag can be raised -- but only alongside the Indonesian flag.

Authorities say security reinforcements have been sent to Wamena, which is now described as calm.

Meanwhile, in the regional capital Jayapura, about one thousand students took to the streets to demand an end to the fighting.

Irian Jaya is one of a handful of Indonesian provinces fighting for independence -- largely because the provinces want a greater share of the revenue

derived from their natural resources.

Earlier this year, one separatist group declared the province independent since 1961 -- the year that Irian Jaya won broke free from its Dutch colonizers.

Irian Jaya became an Indonesian province in 1969 -- as the result of a referendum that independence supporters reject because they say it was not representative of

the entire population.

President Wahid has ruled out the possibility of independence for the province. (Signed)

NEB/MP/PFH