Angry mob vandalizes LBH office

Angry mob vandalizes LBH office

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of people attacked the Indonesian Legal
Aid Institute (LBH) office here in front of dozens of police
officers who had been alerted in advance, activists said on
Monday.

LBH's secretary Dadang Trisasongko told reporters that the
people from the so-called People's Voice Committee smashed the
office's main entrance and several windows.

"They came here at noon on 11 public buses, demanding, among
other things, the office return about 200 workers of textile
manufacturer PT Tyfountex to Surakarta, Central Java," Dadang
said, adding the office had been sheltering the workers while
they struggled to resolve a dispute arising from their dismissal.

In a statement made available to the media, the group accused
the workers as rioters from "out of town" who had gone to the
office under the pretext of "seeking justice".

Dadang said that the office was also accused of neglecting a
number of cases, including the Tanjung Priok incident in 1984
when the security forces opened fire at hundreds of Moslem
protesters.

"However, the fact is that it was LBH personnel, who were
among the first to stand up for the victims at the time," Dadang
said.

Dadang said the people smashed the windows and vandalized the
main entrance while their representatives were inside presenting
their demands to LBH members.

"Police were already here when the people began to ransack
(the building) but they did nothing to stop the violence," Dadang
said.

Labor activist Teten Masduki said that during the incident, he
rushed to the nearby Menteng police station and asked the senior
officer Capt. Sudiman to either identify the perpetrators or the
group leader, but he refused to do so.

"He worried that the action would only incite further unrest,"
Teten said.

Central Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Iman Harjatna, who was
also seen at the scene, echoed the same sentiment, saying that
mass arrests would only exacerbate the situation.

"If we made any arrests, the situation could have got worse,"
Iman said.

One of LBH's founders, Adnan Buyung Nasution, who arrived at
the office shortly after the incident, phoned Jakarta Police
chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman to complain about the
incident.

"Why did the police let this happen while they were already
here... it seemed that there was some kind of conspiracy," an
agitated Buyung told Noegroho.

LBH is known to be highly critical of the government and is
considered one of the leading non-governmental organizations
campaigning for democracy and human rights.

Ucup, one of the protesters, admitted that his group had
staged the protest at businessman Arifin Panigoro's residence in
South Jakarta on Oct. 3.

The mob, claiming to be members of the People's Savior Front,
pelted stones at the businessman's luxury property on Jl.
Jenggala, smashing windows of the house and Arifin's two cars,
including a Mercedes-Benz sedan.

Ucup, a pedicab driver who lives in Warakas, North Jakarta,
also admitted that he had participated in a number of
demonstrations.

He said the earlier demonstrations were discussed two or three
days before the scheduled day.

He said that he was invited by his friend to gather at a pre-
determined place in Warakas early in the morning.

"I was told that the demonstration was to protest the high
prices of basic essentials," he said, while eating a packed lunch
outside the LBH office.

He said the "coordinators" of the protest distributed
headbands and food on the way to LBH. (byg/jun)