Today in Labor History March 12, 1996: Riots erupted in Timika, Irian Jaya, disrupting Freeport mine operations. Over 1,000 Irianese people rampaged through town, hijacking cars and damaging buildings. Rioting against the Freeport mine spread to neighboring towns, as well. Freeport is owned by a U.S. company. It is the largest goldmine in the world.

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Today in Labor History March 7, 1996: A crowd of 3,000 workers destroyed the Freeport copper mine facilities in Tamika, Irian Jaya (West Papua). They took this action after a company security guard ran over a member of the Dani clan. Protesters kept operations shut down and demanded an end to human rights violations, eco-terrorism and cultural genocide by the company. Overnight, the international price of copper jumped from $15 per ton to $2580 per ton.

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