Security forces fired shots to regain control after locals destroyed a health centre on 17 December, convinced the vaccine it was administering had killed a village elder.

The atmosphere in Ransiki District of South Manokwari Regency in West Papua Province became tense after a mob became angry over the death of local village head Alpius Iba.

Alpius died after being injected with vaccine although it is unclear if it played any role in his death. Statisticians note that people die after carrying out all sorts of harmless activities and that this does not prove causation.

Trust in authorities is low in West Papua, a restive province which has a long-running separatist conflict with the Indonesian government.

The atmosphere in the Ransiki District, South Manokwari Regency, West Papua Province gradually became conducive after a mass of local residents angered by the death of a local village head named Alpius Iba who was claimed by the family, Alpius died after being injected with the vaccine.

Dozens of Indonesian police stationed in the area were forced to fire warning shots into the air several times to disperse the anarchist crowd by attacking the government office of the South Manokwari Regent.

The incident that occurred on Thursday, December 16, 2021, began with information that Alpius Iba, Head of Dibera Village, Dataran Isim District, Manokwari Selatan Regency died at the Ransiki Health Center due to the Covid-19 vaccine being injected.

The information suddenly angered relatives and local residents and carried out attacks on government facilities such as Puskesmas, Regent's Office, Police Headquarters, several police vehicles, both two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, did not escape the target of mass destruction.

The crowd also paraded Alpius's body to the South Manokwari Regent's Office to ask the government to take responsibility.

Not only that, a number of roads in the city were blocked by local residents with tree branches.

The police were forced to act decisively by firing several warning shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

South Manokwari Regent Markus Waran and South Manokwari Police Chief, AKBP Slamet Haryanto tried to meet with the masses and try to hold a dialogue so that the mass rioting incident did not spread.

The Head of Public Relations of the West Papua Regional Police, Commissioner of Police, Adam Erwindi said, currently the situation of Kamtibmas in Ransiki District, South Manokwari Regency is gradually conducive where the family of the late Alpius Iba has met with the Government and the Police to resolve the issue.

Adam said that the information about Alpius Iba's death, which was claimed by the family as a result of being injected with the vaccine, would still be investigated further.

According to Adam, the police asked local residents not to act anarchically and believe in hoax news and submit this case to the Police for follow-up.