Two hurt in clash over cable installation<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Another two local residents were seriously
\ninjured during another clash between police officers and
\nprotesters of an installation of high-voltage electric cables
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
The clash which started at 5 a.m. in two villages broke out as
\npolice officers flattened tents erected by villagers of Ciseeng
\nand Cibentang around a newly erected high-voltage electric tower
\nin an effort to block the plan.<\/p>\n
The incident was the fifth to take place between officers and
\nresidents who demanded the state-owned electricity firm PLN pay
\ncompensation for not only their trees over which the cables are
\nbeing installed but also their land and houses.<\/p>\n
They said they were not opposed to the installation but were
\nafraid of electric radiation from the cables.<\/p>\n
Reports said authorities are of the opinion that residents do
\nnot deserve land and building compensation because they need not
\nsacrifice property to make way for the cables.<\/p>\n
The cables also pass over the villages of Cihohe, Kauripan,
\nGunung Cilincing, Desa Setu, and Tiwul. Residents of these
\nvillages hardly reacted.<\/p>\n
Asked to comment on the incident, a Bogor high-ranking police
\nofficer, who refused to be identified, said \"nothing happened at
\nthe project yesterday\".<\/p>\n
\"It is not our problem, it is between the PLN and local
\nresidents,\" said the officer who oversees security affairs in the
\narea.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile an official of the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute,
\nwho represented residents, told The Jakarta Post during a
\nblackout from Monday night to yesterday morning that PLN officers
\nhad started to install the cables.<\/p>\n
Residents said electric power in the two villages had been
\ndisconnected between Monday midnight and yesterday morning. The
\npolice denied there was a blackout there.<\/p>\n
Deti Arsanti, the institute's secretary, said security
\nofficers, who wielded steel shields and rattan sticks, arrived in
\nseven trucks Monday night. Their number reached 280, she said.<\/p>\n
\"The police threatened to shoot the people but the villagers
\ndid not react,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She said two villagers were seriously injured in the head.<\/p>\n
The Bogor police officer denied he had deployed hundreds of
\nofficers, saying only 30 officers were sent to the villages.<\/p>\n
\"We did not harm any person as reported by the press. We only
\nguarded the project,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He added that some people had exaggerated the facts and
\ncertain parties were behind the protests.<\/p>\n
\"I know there were students and other activists among the
\nvillagers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier the officer had said the masterminds of the protest
\nmust be members of the banned Indonesian Communist Party or the
\ndefunct Islamic separatist movement. (05)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-hurt-in-clash-over-cable-installation-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}