Four students killed at Trisakti rally<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): At least four students of Trisakti University
\nwere killed during an antigovernment rally in West Jakarta
\nyesterday evening.<\/p>\n
RCTI last night reported six dead but gave no names.<\/p>\n
The bodies of four victims were laid at the Sumber Waras
\nemergency unit in the early evening. They were identified as
\nHendrawan, an economics student; Hafidin Royadi, a civil
\nengineering student; Heri Hartanto, a machine engineering
\nstudent; and Elang Mulya Lesmana, an architecture student.<\/p>\n
Student leaders said the number of casualties were higher.<\/p>\n
Medical staff at Sumber Waras Hospital, where the four bodies
\nwere admitted, refused to reveal the causes of their death.
\nPolice denied any fatalities occurred during the incident.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said shots were fired during the rally.<\/p>\n
Reporters from The Jakarta Post saw the dead bodies at the
\nhospital's emergency unit and learned that Hendrawan was shot in
\nthe neck and Hafidin in the head, while both Heri and Elang were
\nshot in the lower abdomen.<\/p>\n
All of the victims were in their early 20s and had entered the
\nuniversity, widely known for its high tuition, between two and
\nthree years ago.<\/p>\n
\"It's very cruel. It's very sad and it makes me very angry,\"
\nsaid Adi Andojo Soetjipto, a former justice who is dean of
\nTrisakti's school of law and earlier joined yesterday's rally
\nbefore the incident occurred.<\/p>\n
Judging from blood stains found at a building inside the
\ncampus, \"the students were shot while inside the campus grounds\",
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"We'll immediately send a strong protest to the National
\nPolice chief and the minister of defense,\" Adi told reporters.<\/p>\n
He added that the students were attacked for no clear reason
\nbecause the protesters did not provoke the security forces.<\/p>\n
An eyewitness, Edwil Susandy of the school of mineral
\ntechnology, told reporters at the scene of the killings last
\nnight that there were no warning shots.<\/p>\n
According to Edwil, there were five victims killed, 13 injured
\nand 17 missing in the incident. He identified the other dead
\nvictim as Alan, an economics student.<\/p>\n
But the whereabouts of Alan was still a mystery as of late
\nlast night.<\/p>\n
A university administration official, Stef Vawolangi, said he
\nsaw students being shot at. He said he did not know if rubber
\nbullets or live rounds of ammunition had been used.<\/p>\n
Eyewitnesses said the troopers were attired in dark uniforms
\nand purple berets.<\/p>\n
When asked to comment on the incident, Jakarta Military
\nCommand spokesman Lt. Col. DJ Nachrowi refused to respond.<\/p>\n
City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, who was at the
\nsite, insisted that there were no deaths.<\/p>\n
But he said the victims were possibly trampled to death by
\ntheir fellow protesters when they were dispersed by security
\nforces.<\/p>\n
\"I've questioned four students, who supported my analysis,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Adi said Elang's remain would be brought to his home town in
\nBandung, West Java, to be buried.<\/p>\n
Trisakti student leaders were still meeting by last night to
\ndiscuss funeral arrangements for the other victims.<\/p>\n
According to Edwil, the rally started with a free-speech forum
\nattended by 10,000 students at 10 a.m. on the Trisakti campus.<\/p>\n
Two hours later, the crowd attempted to march to the House of
\nRepresentatives building on Jl. Gatot Subroto, some five
\nkilometers away, he said.<\/p>\n
But they were blocked by a strong contingent of security
\nforces in front of their campus on Jl. S. Parman.<\/p>\n
\"We then conducted a sit-in protest until half past two,\"
\nEdwil said.<\/p>\n
\"When we started to go back into the campus, there were
\nsuddenly shots fired at us,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Shocked grief filled Sumber Waras last night as relatives and
\nfriends of the victims packed into the hospital.<\/p>\n
Elang's mother, Yoga, refused to see the body of her son.<\/p>\n
She cried hysterically for hours in front of the emergency
\nroom.<\/p>\n
Other people rushed to the university looking for their
\nrelatives.<\/p>\n
A woman, identified as Rini, came with three projectiles in
\nher hand and swore revenge if anything happened to her son, R.
\nDwi Wibowo, an economics student.<\/p>\n
Noisy protests demanding reform also took place at several
\nother universities here, including Mpu Tantular University,
\nJayabaya University, Indonesian Maritime Academy (AMI),
\nIndonesian Management Secretarial Academy (ASMI) in East Jakarta
\nand Indonesia Christian University (UKI) in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
No violent clashes were reported in these rallies which
\ninvolved thousands of students since they were cordoned off
\nimmediately by strong security forces.<\/p>\n
Besides protesting last week's fuel price increases, students
\ndemanded a new national leadership, a cabinet reshuffle and
\nquicker economic and political reforms. (byg\/edt\/ivy\/aan\/jun)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/four-students-killed-at-trisakti-rally-1447893297",
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