50 masked men raid discotheque, hurt guests
50 masked men raid discotheque, hurt guests
JAKARTA (JP): Some 50 masked men dressed in black raided the
JeJe Discotheque on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan, Tanah Abang in Central
Jakarta in the early hours of Saturday.
They smashed windows, several chairs and tables, a computer
and some projectors, all worth about Rp 100 million, and injured
five guests.
Ari, an employee at the discotheque, said the unidentified
group arrived at about 2:10 a.m. in two public minibuses, armed
with samurai swords, guns and sticks.
The streets around the building were then full of parked cars.
"There were about 600 guests both in the front yard and inside
the two-story building," said Ari, adding that there were usually
about 800 guests until 5 a.m. on weekends.
He said guests tried to escape from two exits including the
emergency door at the back of the building.
Following the attack, "The lights and music were turned off,
while some 35 employees helped guests reach the exits," Ari said.
Some guests, who stumbled over broken chairs, sustained slight
injuries to their legs and were taken to Budi Kemuliaan Hospital
across the way from the discotheque.
According to Supri, a street vendor nearby, some of the
attackers dragged two foreigners outside and beat them up, until
they managed to escape.
"The attackers suddenly left the building 30 minutes
afterwards, and left in their vehicles," said Supri. Police
arrived shortly after.
Azis, the operations manager, said that the discotheque, which
suffered estimated losses of Rp 20 million, had no enemies nor
had it received prior threats.
Chief of the Central Jakarta criminal investigation unit, Sr.
Insp. Hendra Suhartiyono said the attack was the first of its
kind in Tanah Abang.
Hendra said his investigation team would coordinate with
police in Depok, south of here. A similar attack on a discotheque
occurred around 00:20 a.m. on Jl. Margonda Raya near the bus
terminal there.
The Depok police said the attackers at the Pin Bi Discotheque
consisted of some 200 people claiming to be members of the
Hizbullah Front group. They wrecked chairs and tables, a minibar,
the cashier's desk and made off with some cash, but no one was
hurt. They also attacked two pinball kiosks at the bus terminal
destroying 20 pinball tables. (07)