Aceh authorities act to avert weekend mass rally<\/p>\n
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): At least one youth was killed and 17
\nothers, including two police officers, were wounded when security
\ntroops opened fire to prevent Acehnese who had gathered from
\nacross the troubled province from entering the capital city for
\nthe weekend mass rally.<\/p>\n
A witness, Zainal Arifin, said the police shot at a group of
\nyouths who were about to join other Banda Aceh-bound residents of
\nIdi village in East Aceh.<\/p>\n
"They were just unarmed teenagers," Zainal said.<\/p>\n
Chief of East Aceh Police precinct Supt. Abdullah Hayati
\ndenied the arbitrary shooting, saying the group of youths were
\narmed and initiated the skirmish with the police.<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday, some 10,000 Idi residents, along with
\nhundreds of trucks, were stranded in their village as police
\nblocked traffic heading for the rally from the outlying districts
\nof East Aceh and Pidie. Similar crowds were also seen massing in
\nother areas, ready to move into Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
Another incident broke out in Langsa village near the East
\nAceh police station on Wednesday leaving a police officer and a
\nresident of the village wounded.<\/p>\n
Separately, two residents from Tangse village in the Pidie
\nregency, some 150 kilometers from Banda Aceh, were injured when
\npolice prevented two truckloads of villagers from streaming into
\nBanda Aceh.<\/p>\n
The mass gathering is slated to be held on Saturday at the
\nBaiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh to commemorate the first
\nanniversary of the public call for a referendum on self-
\ndetermination for Aceh. A mass prayer will precede the rally on
\nFriday, also in the mosque.<\/p>\n
Some one million people gathered in and around the same mosque
\nlast year to demand the referendum. President Abdurrahman Wahid
\ndismissed the call and instead vowed to precipitate the
\nimplementation of a special autonomy status for the natural
\nresource-rich province.<\/p>\n
Banda Aceh was reportedly calm on Wednesday, with no public
\noperations in service and many traders closing their shops early.<\/p>\n
Efforts to hamper Acehnese from joining the gathering went too
\nfar with witnesses saying that police also beat up two Syiah
\nKuala University students when they, along with their colleagues,
\ninnocently passed in front of the nearby Police Mobile Brigade
\nunit office in Lingke village.<\/p>\n
Barbed wire barricades have been set up in the streets of
\nBanda Aceh and reinforcements have been dispatched along Krueng
\nAceh river as thousands of Acehnese are trying to reach the city
\nby boat.<\/p>\n
In his letter to the National Police Chief Gen. Surojo
\nBimantoro dated Nov. 8, head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and
\nHuman Rights Association (PBHI) Hendardi condemned the police's
\nstern actions in preventing the Acehnese from attending the mass
\ngathering.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, some 1,500 Acehnese living across Java staged a
\nstreet rally on Wednesday, picketing the United Nations mission
\nand later the United States and British embassies, to press for
\ninternational intervention in Aceh. (50\/lup\/dja)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aceh-authorities-act-to-avert-weekend-mass-rally-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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