40 questioned over rioting

40 questioned over rioting

PURWODADI, Central Java: Police here are questioning 40 people
in connection with a riot on New Year's Eve that led to a house,
two forest police posts and two police motorbikes being set on
fire.

Chief of the local police precinct, Lt. Col. Cornelis, said
yesterday the people were among hundreds of villagers of
Ginggangtani, 40 kilometers southeast of Semarang, who ran amok
following rumors that their neighbor had been shot to death by
forest police who caught him attempting to steal logs.

"We are hunting down other suspects on charges of causing the
riot and wounding some police officers," Cornelis said.

Nobody was killed in the incident.

A spokesman for the local forestry office, Sundoro, told The
Jakarta Post the forest police shot Kodri, 30, in self-defense.

"Police fired bullets in the air, asking Kodri and those in
his company who committed the theft to surrender, but they defied
the order and fought back," Sundoro said.

Three police officers were beaten in the brawl, said Sundoro.
Kodri hurt his jaw after a bullet grazed it. He was admitted to
Panti Wilasa Hospital in Semarang.

Sundoro said log thefts were rampant here, compared to other
towns in the province. (har)