100 teenagers seek to `borrow' arson suspects
100 teenagers seek to `borrow' arson suspects
JAKARTA (JP): About 100 unidentified teenagers surrounded
police stations in the wee hours yesterday, asking to "borrow"
detainees suspected of having burnt the command post of the
National University's student regiment in South Jakarta on
Tuesday.
Informed police sources said that they were driving at least
25 cars and some of them were in military-look clothes.
It is strongly believed that the group wanted to take revenge
by teaching lesson using their own ways to the suspects, who are
all students of the university.
According to the sources, who refused to be identified, they
first came to the Pasar Minggu police station before moving to
the South Jakarta police precinct office at around 2 a.m.
However, none of them were able to get into the office
building as on-duty police officers had closed the gates and
ordered the unidentified group to disperse.
"They surrounded the two buildings with their cars roaring and
asked to get in to see and borrow the suspects," the sources
said.
In Pasar Minggu, the teenagers were dispersed by head of the
police station Maj. Suro Jauhari, who was apparently still in his
office when the incident happened.
From the top of his three-story office, Suro asked them to
immediately leave the yard before the police decided to take any
action against them.
Failing to meet their need, the group then went to the South
Jakarta Police Office on Jl. Darmawangsa I, asking for the same
request.
No fatality and damage were reported.
The command post of the university in Pejaten area was set on
fire Tuesday during a street brawl involving students and
regiment members. The fire completely razed the station, which
was utilized by members of the student regiment for campus
security purposes.
The fight, which took place amid a celebration of the
university's 45th anniversary, was triggered by Friday's incident
in which several regiment members assaulted a student following a
trivial traffic incident.
Witnesses said dozens of angry students, equipped with spiked
clubs and baseball bats, initially attacked two members of the
regiment by ransacking their command post and setting it on fire.
Victims
As of yesterday, at least 15 students had confessed of their
role in the attack and the burning of the post, while five
regiment members are still being treated at nearby hospitals,
said head of the South Jakarta police precinct Lt. Col. Silvanus
Julian Wenas.
"Most of them come to the police station on their own
initiative," Wenas said.
He, however, refused to comment on the unexpected visit of the
unidentified teenagers.
He urged all parties involved in the mishap to remain calm
because the police are striving to solve the case immediately and
bring those allegedly involved to the court for the trial.
Based on preliminary investigation, the two parties involved
in the dispute are divided into two groups: one consists of the
university's Association of Nature Lovers (Himpala) and the other
the regiment members.
It is strongly believed that the dispute between the two
groups is mainly caused by differences over their candidates for
the rector election.
"We're on our way to investigate detailed backgrounds which
sparked the clash," Wenas said.
On a related development yesterday, City Military Commander
Maj. Gen. A.M. Hendropriyono yesterday blasted media reports over
the incident, saying that the media had tried to pit one student
against another.
"After all they are fellow students, aren't they?" he said.
Hendropriyono, therefore, called on the media not to harshly
blame members of the regiment, stressing the role of the media to
cool down the tense situation in the university.
Instead of some officers in plain clothes, not even a single
anti-riot officers was seen at the university's campus yesterday.
(bsr/yns)