Angry university students burn senate hall

Angry university students burn senate hall

JAKARTA (JP): Angry maritime engineering students of Dharma
Persada University in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, set on fire on
Friday morning the student senate boardroom of the university's
School of Engineering.

"The maritime engineering students have been having this
dispute with the engineering students since Thursday. The
maritime students got into the boardroom on Friday, and allegedly
found crates of Molotov cocktails," East Jakarta Police chief
Col. Hidayat Fabanxio told reporters.

"They became really mad and just started trashing the place
and set it on fire out of anger. The incident happened at about 9
a.m. on Friday."

On Thursday, the maritime engineering students were holding a
band festival when they were reportedly attacked at about 2 p.m.
by students from the School of Engineering, who were allegedly
armed with sharp weapons.

The afternoon clash, which injured two unidentified students,
continued into the night until the police intervened. The two
injured students are reportedly receiving treatment at Harum
Hospital in Kalimalang, East Jakarta.

Police tried negotiating with the students from both
departments until midnight to stop the fighting.

"It seems the maritime engineering students were still not
satisfied. Our officers secured the campus until about 3 a.m.,"
Hidayat said.

"Before our officers left the campus, it was decided that both
departments would refrain from academic activities until Tuesday
in order to settle the dispute between them."

On Friday morning, maritime engineering students requested the
campus' security officers to let them on the campus as they had
left their belongings behind during the clash on Thursday
afternoon.

"The maritime students passed the School of Engineering,
entered it, and went into the senate boardroom. There they
allegedly found crates of Molotov cocktails and went berserk.
They set the boardroom on fire," Hidayat said. (ylt)