Artists swept of the street

In a showdown late on Saturday, two trucks loaded with public order officers cleared Jl. Sumenep in Menteng, Central Jakarta, the venue of a two-day Street Art Festival.

Led by the municipality's Public Order Office (POO) Harianto Baijuri and backed by the police, the officers forced the artists to move out of Sumenep Park, pulled down their banners and whitened out their wall murals, including a painting of murdered human rights activist Munir on Jl. Sudirman.

Accusing the artists -- some of whom have artistic tattoos and body piercings -- as "thugs", the officers assaulted two of them and, in a move clearly seen by eyewitnesses, gave money to a group of unidentified men who forced the artists to move on at about 10 p.m.

"There is no place for arts in Jakarta. This is the metropolis," Harianto scolded the artists.

There are no existing regulations requiring the public to obtain permits from the city administration or police to hold arts exhibitions or demonstrations on the street.

According to Amalia Pulungan of the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), the disturbance is a demonstration of how coercive measures are used to protect businesses, an issue being fought against by artists who have joined in the anti-globalization campaign.

The event organized jointly by IGJ, the Urban Poor Consortium, Yogyakarta arts and culture organization Taring Padi and Nurani Senja, moved the venue to the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center on Jl. Cikini Raya. The event will close at midnight on Sunday. -- JP