JAKARTA, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Police and military personnel on Tuesday found more bodies following violent protests a day earlier in Indonesia's eastern Papua province, bringing the death toll to 32 while 86 others were injured, a police officer said.
Police reinforcements have been dispatched from Jayapura city to protest-hit spots after the violent rallies on Monday in Wamena and Waena, police spokesman in the province Senior Commissioner Ahmad Mustofa Kamal told Xinhua via phone.
The protests were sparked by rumors that a high school teacher had insulted students with racist words, but the police confirmed the rumors were hoax.
"The total of the casualty found in Wamena became 28 with four others in Waena," said Ahmad, adding that in Waena, the death toll included one soldier and three students.
Hundreds of protesters on Monday set fire on 150 shop buildings, 80 houses and scores of government office buildings, forcing about 3,000 people to flee their homes and take shelter to the police offices, military command headquarters and churches, Ahmad revealed.
"The security personnel have boosted security for the evacuees in anticipating of possible attacks on them," he said.
Natural resource-rich Papua, home to the world's largest gold mine and second-biggest copper mine, was stricken by a series of protests that turned violent in August.
