50 students and officers injured in scuffles
JAKARTA (JP): More than 50 student demonstrators and security personnel were injured in scuffles yesterday in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Medan, North Sumatra, and Bandung, West Java.
It was another day of protests as thousands of students in widespread pockets of the country continued their unceasing demonstrations for political and economic reforms.
Over 1,000 students of Tadulako University in Palu were involved in a scuffle with antiriot police when they tried to force their way through a security blockade to get to the provincial legislature building to convey their demands.
The students in 80 minibuses, five trucks and dozens of motorcycles were stopped by security officers as their motorcade was about 300 meters off their campus.
Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse the rally and drive them back onto the campus.
Students resisted and pelted stones at the police. At least 30 students and two police officers were reportedly injured.
Donggala police subprecinct chief Lt. Col. Adrizal Adnan maintained that police were forced to take harsh measures as the demonstrators became increasingly violent.
"The demonstrators were not patient while we were negotiating the students' request to go to the provincial council," he said.
Although he acknowledged arrests of several students caught stoning security personnel, he said he did not know the exact number.
Burning
A similar incident in Medan resulted in injuries to four police officers and one student as a shower of stones began when students were stopped by a security blockade.
Thousands of students of the Medan Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) took to the streets in the city, causing traffic jams on several roadways near the campus.
The antiriot police used tear gas but the student protesters refused to retreat to the campus.
Five demonstrators were arrested for questioning.
Things took a turn for the worse last night when a mob walked on Jl. Pancing, near the IKIP campus, and started throwing rocks at shops and buildings. One truck was also set ablaze.
However, it was not immediately known if the mob was composed of students.
In another part of the city earlier yesterday, hundreds of students of the privately run Dharma Agung University staged a free-speech forum on their campus to demand immediate reform.
Separately, Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzairi, the newly appointed chief of the Northern Sumatra Military Command, met with several ethnic leaders in the province to ask for their participation in helping pacify the increasing raucousness of the student movement.
"We respect the difference of opinions but it should not cause instability," he said.
Meanwhile the Malaysian consulate in Medan has reportedly advised Malaysians to take care and stock up food following increasing student demonstrations.
Malaysian students and workers in Medan also have been issued special cards by the consulate so they can easily be identified as foreigners if they get caught up in a riot, the New Straits Times said.
Consul-General Mohamed Nor Atan said that although the situation in Medan was under control by Indonesian authorities, the increasing spate of student demonstrations forced the consulate to take extra measures to protect Malaysians.
There are 230 students studying mainly medicine in Medan, while 72 Malaysians are working as plantation, factory and hotel managers.
The consulate has reportedly also introduced a system for Malaysians to alert each other in case rioting gets out of control and they have to leave the country.
In Bandung, West Java, two students were hospitalized and 16 others were treated at a university polyclinic when hundreds of students of Pasundan University were involved in an altercation with security officers.
The skirmish occurred when security personnel tried to stop the students from making their way to the campus of the Bandung Institute of Technology in the city.
The two sides calmed down after the university's deputy rector Sidik Priyadana arrived and appealed to students to disperse.
In Semarang, Central Java, more than 1,000 students from several universities and institutes staged a joint demonstration which briefly went off the Diponegoro University campus grounds.
They shouted "Long live workers, long live farmers and long live the people" as they marched.
The students dispersed peacefully after antiriot police arrived.
In Yogyakarta, about 200 students of Cokroaminoto University, calling themselves the Students Action Committee for Reform, clashed with police when they marched on streets around their campus. Eight students were injured.
The students went back to their campus and dispersed after the antiriot police used tear gas.
In Malang, East Java, four students were detained for questioning after thousands of students were involved in scuffles with security personnel yesterday.
Eleven students and 45 police officers were injured.
The incident occurred when thousands of students from Merdeka University and the National Institute of Technology marched on the streets and rejected police calls to return to their campus.
Chief of the Malang police precinct Lt. Col. Hary Sudewo said the four arrested would be investigated and probably tried because the student rallies could no longer be tolerated.
The injured students were released after receiving medical treatment at the Saiful Anwar General Hospital. (rms/21/nur/swa)