A rallies were held in Jayapura and other regions of West Papua on Tuesday to protest the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua, particularly in the Dogiyai regency.

Around 7.30am local time protestors gathered in Jayapura for a peaceful rally and while police initially allowed the march to take place, the demonstrators were subsequently blocked in front of Den Zipur Waena by police and Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel.

The Australia West Papua Association said demonstrators attempted to negotiate with the police, however, the negotiations failed.

"The situation then escalated resulting in the policing firing tear gas. It was also reported that the security forces threw stones at the protestors," AWPA said.

"The protesters then fled in various directions to avoid the tear gas. It was also reported that several negotiators were hit with batons during the situation. A number of demonstrators received injuries."

AWPA (Sydney) representative Joe Collins of AWPA said the violent action taken against the protestors was part of a pattern of behaviour.

"Yet again we have the Indonesian security forces cracking down on peaceful demonstrators who were trying to peacefully bring the authorities attention to the grave human rights situation in the territory," he said.

"There has been no improvement in the human rights situation in the territory over recent years and it is in fact seriously deteriorating."

AWPA noted the Australian government claims it has a "special relationship" with Indonesia, and called on the government to do everything it could to urge the Indonesian government to address the human rights situation in West Papua and allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the territory.