21 named suspects in attack on Bali police station

21 named suspects in attack on Bali police station

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar

The Karangasem Police in Bali named on Friday 21 people as
suspects in Wednesday's attack and burning of the Rendang Police
station that left four people injured, including a police
officer.

Suspects in the attack, which was triggered by a police raid
against a tajen (illegal cockfight) held at a temple in the area,
are now being detained at Karangasem Police headquarters in
Amlapura, some 70 kilometers east of Denpasar.

The numbers of suspects is expected to increase because the
police are still questioning 15 other individuals.

"Whether we will name them -- or some of them -- as suspects
will be determined upon the completion of the interrogation,
probably tonight," Bali Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. AS Reniban
said on Friday evening.

On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of police officers raided a
tajen contest at Dalem temple in Menanga village, some 40
kilometers east of Denpasar. In the raid, the officers arrested
four suspected organizers of the cockfight. The suspects were
later transferred to Amlapura.

A few hours later, a wooden drum sounded, a traditional signal
warning the villagers of an "emergency", and hundreds of people
flocked to the streets.

The mob was directed by several known gamblers to lay siege to
the police station, demanding the release of their detained
colleagues.

The Karangasem Police deployed two truckloads of riot police
to reinforce the 15 officers at the station. But the
reinforcement was stalled by a roadblock of burning tires and
the hurling of stones by an angry mob on the road to the village.

The reinforcement officers repeatedly fired shots into the air
to disperse the mob. Three villagers were injured in the
shootings, apparently by ricocheted bullets. They were identified
as Ketut Rawuh, 40, Made Artawan, 18, and I Ngurah Arnawa, 40.
All of them were taken to a nearby hospital.

By that time, another mob of around 500 people had stormed
into the station going after the outnumbered officers before
burning half the building to the ground.

When the reinforcement officers finally arrived, the building
was still on fire. The mob had also burned two police motorbikes
and two Madsen sub-machine guns.

Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika cut short his
inspection tour across Bali to visit the station.

"I will stay in this precinct until the individuals
responsible for the attack are arrested,

"I have to spend the night here to give moral support to my
officers and to show those gamblers that I am serious -- that I
will not let such an attack go unpunished."

Dozens of plainclothes detectives and 200 of the Mobile
Brigade's troopers descended into the darkness that engulfed the
village, searching for suspects.

By 1 a.m., 10 suspects had been apprehended. Based on their
statements, the police concluded that the attack was not a
spontaneous one.

"Each of them had been tasked with a specific job prior to the
attack. One suspect was responsible for buying kerosene, another
for buying firewood and there was even a suspect who confessed to
having been tasked with buying and distributing food among the
protesters," said Pastika.

One of the injured villagers, I Ketut Rawuh, was discharged
from hospital on Friday afternoon only to be escorted to the
police station and named as a suspect.

"We have him on video repeatedly hurling stones at the
officers before a ricocheted bullet struck his right arm," AS
Reniban said.