Students catapulted into controversy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city police have uncovered a program to
\ntrain protesters involving hundreds of students at a university
\nin Tangerang, west of here, an officer said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Based on surveillance and evidence recovered, police believed
\nthat students participating in the program planned to attack
\nsecurity personnel deployed to secure antigovernment rallies,
\ncity police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang told reporters.<\/p>\n
However, Aritonang refused to name the student groups
\ninvolved, the university in question, or who was training the
\nstudents.<\/p>\n
The officer only said that intelligence officers, unbeknown to
\nthe students, had found dozens of imported catapults at the
\nuniversity.<\/p>\n
He said the students had been practicing using the catapults
\nfrom various distances during their illicit training sessions and
\nconcluded that they were preparing to mount a major assault on
\nthe security forces.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that a huge number of catapults have been
\nimported,\" Aritonang said.<\/p>\n
He said that police had been monitoring activities at the
\nuniversity since shortly before the start of the Ramadhan fasting
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
\"Routine patrols in the area have spotted a number of students
\npracticing,\" Aritonang said.<\/p>\n
Students have also been learning how to orate and how to form
\nhuman barricades, the officer explained.<\/p>\n
So far, he said, the local police have not made any arrests in
\nconnection with the discovery, adding that the matter was the
\nsubject of an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
Aritonang's disclosure of the discovery is extremely unusual.
\nNormal police practice holds that announcements of this nature
\nare made only after arrests have been made.<\/p>\n
Since Ramadhan, students in Greater Jakarta have called a
\ntemporary halt to antigovernment rallies to appease a general
\npublic increasingly frustrated by the disruptions which their
\nactivities bring to the capital.<\/p>\n
However, some student groups have already announced their
\nintention of returning to the streets again shortly after Idul
\nFitri, which marks an end to the month of fasting. (emf)<\/p>",
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