Indonesian security forces have killed at least 21 people across the restive province of Aceh in the last two days in a bid to prevent tens of thousands of people descending on the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, for a massive pro-independence rally tomorrow. Faisal Hadi, a coordinator of human rights groups in Aceh, said that in addition to the deaths 101 people had been injured in incidents in the province, on the northern tip of Sumatra. "It is clear the police and army were prepared to do anything to stop people reaching Banda Aceh for the rally," he said.
He said some fatalities were caused when convoys of trucks and cars refused to turn round at police roadblocks. Others were shot when they tried to reach the city by boat. "Police opened fire into the crowds while they were at sea and also trying to dock. There was no way they could miss."
The police admit to shooting 13 people dead, "in self- defence", but reputable human rights organisations monitoring events say the final death toll could be more than 40 once their staff have checked reports from remote areas.
Activists organising the rally put the death toll at over 100 but their figures have always been inflated in the past.
Local television showed graphic footage of people fleeing several different incidents and badly injured men, women and children being carried away for treatment.
Agus Suwandi, the local leader of Indonesia's Commission for Victims of Violence, said the true death toll would be "way higher" than what could be confirmed. "Based on what we're hearing I reckon many more than 40 people have been killed in the last two days."
News of the killings came as the Indonesian government announced that it would meet representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) guerrillas in Switzerland next week to discuss a possible solution to the separatist crisis that has been rumbling in the province for several decades and has left thousands of people dead.
The security forces began their operation to seal off Banda Aceh on Monday. Thousands of troops and police officers were deployed to block roads and rivers and check identity cards. Two road bridges were blown up, buses were banned from travelling and there were many reports of police and soldiers sweeping through villages destroying vehicles or shooting out the tyres.
A police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kusbini Imbar, denied that his forces had over-reacted. "We only opened fire in self defence after we had been attacked by Gam in several locations," he said. "We know Gam was involved because we recovered grenades and other evidence from the scenes after they fled."
The rally, marking the first anniversary of a huge gathering in Banda Aceh which called for a referendum on ties with Jakarta, was expected to draw several hundred thousand people.
The rally's organiser, Muhammad Nazar, said he was now asking villages to hold their own meetings to reduce the risk of further casualties. "We are not violent people," he said. "We are not calling for a war or an armed struggle. All we want is for the Acehnese to be able to decide their own future."
Hundreds of Acehnese demonstrated in Jakarta on Wednesday, including outside the British embassy, to demand international intervention.
Indonesia's senior security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudohoyono, said that next week's talks in Geneva "will discuss two alternatives [for Aceh] - wider and special autonomy or accelerated development."
He said Jakarta would never grant independence to the oil- and gas-rich province.
