18 youth detained over street brawl in Tangerang

TANGERANG (JP): Military personnel here have netted 18 youths for allegedly possessing, among other things, a Molotov cocktail, a crowbar, pocket knives and swords and sickles during a noisy street brawl on Saturday.

Tangerang Military chief Lt. Col. Meris Wiryadi said that most of the detained teenagers were students of a local technical high school.

But one of the suspects, identified as M. Ridwan, 18, was believed to be "a hoodlum from Jakarta" and at the spot on Saturday afternoon to provoke the students from both STM 80 and STM-PGRI technical school to get involved in the clash, Meris was quoted by Antara as saying.

During the fight, student Edwin P., 15, from another technical school, STM Yupentek, received a serious head wound.

"I was not involved in the fight. I was suddenly hit in the head by a rock while I was on my way to my school," he said.

Meris gave no further details of the arrested students but said that all of the suspects had been handed over to the police.

When contacted later, Tangerang Police chief Lt. Col. Pudji Hartanto said that along with evidence, he only had 16 students in his custody.

Pudji said nothing about Ridwan but expressed his strong opinion that Saturday's brawl between the two schools on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, Cikokol, was ignited by a third party.

"If there's nothing behind the fight, how could the students dare to start the fight in their school compound before moving it out to the street?" he asked.

According to Pudji, police would not release the detained students into their parents' care this time, as is usually done, because there was adequate evidence gathered of the crimes committed by the students.

"We'll never free these students. We'll process them and hand over their dossiers to the prosecutor's office prior to their trials in Tangerang court.

"We want to teach them a lesson," Pudji said.

Both Pudji and Meris admitted that student brawls in the mayoralty have reached a tense level and the situation badly required an immediate move to solve it.

Both officers also urged headmasters and parents of all high schools in Tangerang to help the authorities to curb the number of street brawls here.

According to military personnel, the students of STM 80 had attacked their rivals of STM-PGRI on purpose by marching in a crowd carrying a black flag that read Veteran (veterans of) STM 80 Tangerang.

When asked about what actually caused Saturday's fight, teachers from both schools could not give a specific answer.

Teacher Yono, 45, said that his students involved in the fight were all good students in their classes.

"We regret it if they fight outside, which makes the security officers busy and the traffic congested," he said. (41/bsr)