Irian Jaya Independence Activist Is Mourned

Crowds sang hymns and waved separatist flags as they accompanied the body of a slain independence leader to his home in Indonesia’s restive Irian Jaya province.

Thousands of mourners filled the 27-mile winding road from the provincial capital, Jayapura, to the town of Sentani, where Theys Eluay lived until his death Saturday.

Hundreds of police and soldiers lined the procession’s route, anxious to avoid a repetition of the rioting that shook the town after the slaying.

Eluay’s body was found in his crushed car at the bottom of a ravine, just hours after he had dined with local military officers. Police said he was murdered. There are no clear suspects, they said.