Police arrest 121 students in anti-brawl drive<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The police apprehended 121 high school students
\nin various places in Central Jakarta yesterday in an effort to
\ncontrol student brawls which have once again flared up.<\/p>\n
The Central Jakarta Police seized from the students a knife,
\nsword and 20 belts which had bicycle cogwheels or larger steel
\ndiscs in place of buckles.<\/p>\n
"We will continue raids on students brawling. This is an
\ninstruction of the Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata,"
\nthe Central Jakarta Police chief S.Y. Wenas announced yesterday.<\/p>\n
He said the students will be released after they sign
\nstatements saying they will no longer be involved in brawls. They
\nwill also have their fingerprints taken.<\/p>\n
However, Wenas said the police will detain two students, Anto
\nand Nuriadi, from who the knife and sword were confiscated.<\/p>\n
He added that the police do not know how to classify the
\nbelts. "Are they accessories or arms? We don't know. However, we
\nseized the belts," he added<\/p>\n
The operation started at 3 p.m. The police apprehended
\nstudents at a bus shelter on Jl. Lapangan Banteng Utara. Some
\nofficers beat students with rattan sticks when they tried to run
\naway.<\/p>\n
The 70 officers also arrested students at bus shelters on Jl.
\nPasar Baru where student brawls often break out.<\/p>\n
The operation was also conducted near other schools, including
\non Jl. Budi Utomo and Jl. Poncol where the technical high school
\nstudents are considered troublemakers. Some students were taken
\naway by police car.<\/p>\n
The police also arrested Hery, an alleged drug dealer, on Jl.
\nKramat Raya, and seized some 800 barbiturate pills which were
\nfound in his kiosk.<\/p>\n
"Hery was arrested few months ago," one officer said.<\/p>\n
In the same area some pornographic books were seized in a
\nkiosk. The kiosk owner had deserted it.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time the police have conducted such an
\noperation. Some months ago the police also cracked down on
\nstudent brawls. Despite the operations the number of student
\nbrawls has increased.<\/p>\n
City Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga criticized the police and
\ntheir sporadic efforts to stop the widespread student brawls.<\/p>\n
M.H. Ritonga, also the city police chief from 1989 to 1992,
\nsaid the city's strategy of encouraging discussion between
\nstudents and parents had bore little fruit.<\/p>\n
Student brawls occur in the city every 1.5 days. Last year,
\n12 students were killed in 215 brawls, while in 1994, 10 were
\nkilled in 160 brawls.<\/p>\n
In the last six days, three teenagers have died in student
\nbrawls. Rachmat Hidayat, an 18-year-old technical high school
\nstudent was killed in a brawl in East Jakarta on Friday. Hery
\nHeriansyah, a 13-year-old junior high school student died in a
\nbrawl in West Jakarta Saturday. Raimon Sitepu, 18, was killed on
\nSunday by a group of teenagers in front of his residence in
\nMenteng, Central Jakarta. One of the alleged assailants, caught
\nand beaten by a mob, is being treated at the Cipto Mangunkusumo
\nGeneral Hospital for his injuries. (04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-arrest-121-students-in-anti-brawl-drive-1447893297",
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