Two people shot in West Java riot<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Mass rioting erupted when locals clashed with police in the
\nWest Java town of Purwakarta on Thursday, leaving at least two
\npeople shot and three vehicles, including two police cars, set
\nablaze.<\/p>\n
The melee also left the city's Jakarta-Bandung route paralyzed
\nfor more than 12 hours as some 2,000 villagers fought with local
\npolice at around 12:30 a.m. on the main highway at Plered just
\noutside of town.<\/p>\n
All vehicles that arrived in Purwakarta from Bandung were
\nforced to divert to Padalarang, before heading towards Jakarta
\nvia the Puncak route.<\/p>\n
Cars from Jakarta, meanwhile, had to take the Subang-Lembang
\nroute in order to get to Bandung.<\/p>\n
Traffic jams worsened when the remains of the burned-out cars
\nwere left smoldering on the highway.<\/p>\n
The unrest was sparked by word of an extortion attempt against
\nwomen workers returning from abroad by a minibus driver and his
\nassistant who drove them home to Purwakarta.<\/p>\n
One of the women, named as Neneng Rochyati -- a resident from
\nPanyindangan village in Cilalawi subdistrict, nine kilometers
\nsouth from the town -- then cried for help, prompting local
\nresidents to run after the car.<\/p>\n
They finally managed to seize the two suspects and handed one
\nof them, Sri Harno, to local police.<\/p>\n
But later, a mob of angry people formed and demanded that the
\nman be handed back to them; the police refused to do so, however.<\/p>\n
The agitated people then ran amok and set fire to the hired
\nminibus and two police cars.<\/p>\n
The police later fired shots at the crowd, wounding two people
\nidentified as Deden, 18, and Kajang, 12. The victims were being
\ntreated for gunshot wounds at the Banyu Asih General Hospital in
\nPurwakarta on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\"Police shoot without warning -- and this takes place even
\nafter the mob retreats from their position,\" eyewitness Muhyidin
\nrecalled.<\/p>\n
Deputy Purwakarta Police Chief Adj. Comr. Syamsul Bachri
\nclaimed his officers only fired rubber bullets in the incident;
\nresidents, however, contested the assertion, saying they found
\nlive ammunition on the ground.<\/p>\n
By late afternoon, tensions still engulfed the small town as
\nlocal security personnel remained on high alert amid the severe
\ntraffic jams that formed during the confrontation.<\/p>\n
Police worked hard to calm the situation, along with local
\ncommunity and Muslim leaders, who asked the rioting residents to
\nclear the streets.<\/p>\n
Syamsul added that the two suspects were in police custody in
\nPurwakarta. He promised that the police would pay for the medical
\nexpenses of the two injured people.<\/p>\n
Local legislators, meanwhile, slammed the police for firing on
\nthe crowd. \"Such hasty shooting should be avoided -- this is the
\nsecond time in the last 30 days,\" said Husen Naji, a member of
\nthe Purwakarta district legislative council.<\/p>\n
In addition, he claimed to have shells of some of the live
\nbullets found at the scene.<\/p>\n
Female migrant workers returning from overseas have in the
\npast been targeted by extortionists, starting from their very
\narrival at the airport, until they return home.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration has even set up a
\nspecial terminal at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International
\nAirport for Indonesian workers departing or arriving from abroad
\nto stop extortion by customs officials.<\/p>\n
Such measures in the past, however, have not always been so
\neffective.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-people-shot-in-west-java-riot-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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