Locals rally at Jayapura airport

Over 20 locals from the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura staged a rally at the city's Sentani Airport on Friday morning, prompting a shutdown of its activites, kompas.com has reported.

After negotiating with police officers, the protesters agreed to clear off the runway at around 8.30 a.m. local time (6.30 a.m. Jakarta time). Police and airport authorities have yet to release an official statement.

A tempointeraktif.com report, however, reveals the ralliers belonged to five local tribes, Faile, Sakai, Alio, Talem, dan Yoku. They contended that the airport was built upon their collective ancestral land and demanded Rp. 79 billion (US$ 7.9 million) in restitution.

During the rally, the airport disallowed two flights from Biak and Timika from landing, and cancelled another two flights scheduled to depart for Merauke and Trigana.