On 25 January 2026, in front of the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral Church, Merauke, South Papua Province, officers of the Merauke police arbitrarily arrested, beaten, arbitrarily detained Maria Amotey and 10 other members of Suara Kaum Awam Katolik Regio Papua while they were staging a silent protest regarding the Church’s role and state-backed development policies affecting indigenous Malind Anim and other indigenous communities in South Papua.