Jakarta - One person died from gunshot wounds Saturday after Indonesian police opened fire in an attempt to stop rioting in the country's easternmost province of Papua, media reports said.

MetroTV reported the riot broke out after police officers removed an outlawed Free Papua Movement separatist flag, raised by a group of people at the end of rally in Wamena district town of Papua's Jayawijaya regency to mark an international day of indigenous' rights.

The removal triggered anger and escalated into rioting when thousands of people attacked the police with arrows, bows and rocks. Police fired warning shots to stop the violence.

According to Fadal al-Hamid, head of the local indigenous community organizing the rally, one person died from gunshot wounds.

The Jayawijaya district police chief blamed the rally leaders for the rioting by allowing participants to raise separatist flags.

The Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag has long been a symbol of the region's separatist rebellion, with the Papuan Tribal Council urging the government to recognize the flag as a cultural symbol of Papuans.

In Jakarta, about 100 Muslim hardliners staged a rally outside the US embassy to protest a call by Washington for the release of two Papuan activists.

The Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir's protest came after 40 members of the US Congress sent a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urging an "immediate and unconditional" release of the activists on human rights grounds.

Philep Karma and Yusac Pakage were sentenced to 15 and 10 years respectively in 2005 after a court found them guilty of treason after they raised an outlawed separatist flag, the Morning Star.

The Free Papua Movement is a small rebel group that has fought for secession in the predominantly Melanesian Papua, formerly Irian Jaya province, since the former Dutch colony of Western New Guinea became part of Indonesia in 1964. (dpa)