Indonesian authorities in Papua have arrested nine people for raising a separatist flag just hours before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was due to arrive in the province.
The Jakarta Globe reports eight men and a woman believed to be linked to the separatist Free Papua Organisation hoisted the banned Morning Star flag on Saturday near Wamena in the Highlands.
Police say they are questioning the nine.
The public display of separatist symbols can be prosecuted under charges of subversion and plotting against the state, which can carry long jail sentences
