Bogor street protesters freed unconditionally
BOGOR (JP): The police have released the 13 street protesters who were arrested while staging a rally criticizing the government on Sunday's Independence Day anniversary.
"They were released all together at around 11 a.m. today," Bogor Police Chief Col. Dadang Garnida said yesterday.
The number of people released differs from the figure announced erroneously by the head of the Bogor police intelligence section, Maj. Umar Saefudin.
Umar had said that police arrested 14 protesters and were seeking another suspect.
In a meeting with the press yesterday, Dadang said that police were still looking for parties who possibly masterminded the rally, which was attended by about 70 people.
Dadang said all 13 protesters released yesterday had been freed unconditionally.
"But they have to come to us if one day we need them for further questioning in our attempt to arrest the masterminds of the rally on our Independence Day," he said.
A group called Youth Front Fighting for People's Rights explained yesterday that its 13 members arrested during Sunday's rally were six university students and seven teenagers, including senior high school students.
One of them is a 17-year-old girl, identified as Ade.
The others are Dedi Kurniawan, Agus Setiawan, Irwan, Tedi Mulyana, Nufrizal Nasution, Imam Rumanov, Andreas, Zaenal, Hamzah, Eeng Suhendi, Eko and Victor Sirait.
They are aged between 17 and 27.
Legal body
In a related development yesterday, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association lodged a protest against the Bogor police with National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo.
In a letter signed by its chairman Hendardi, the body said the Bogor police had brutally attacked the protesters and arrested them without any legal grounds or in accordance with procedures.
At least two of them, Ade and Andreas, were wounded in the incident.
The protesters were arrested in a raid led by Dadang immediately after a convoy of cars carrying local officials, including the city mayor, passed along Jl. Kapten Muslihat, while the rally was taking place at a nearby monument, it said.
The association urged the police chief to punish Bogor officers for their negligent actions.
In Jakarta, a group of 30 people protesting the Bogor police action met with members of the National Committee on Human Rights yesterday.
After being briefed on the situation, committee member Maj. Gen. (ret) Koesparmono Irsan, a former police officer, disclosed that the Bogor police had violated the law by assaulting and detaining people holding a protest rally, the group said.
Koesparmono reportedly urged the protesters to sue the Bogor police for having no legal grounds to arrest them.
According to Dadang, the protesters were arrested for "expressing their joy by commemorating Independence Day by staging a rally on the street without a permit."
He also guaranteed that all the protesters were in good health when released yesterday.
Shortly after their release, police officers took the protesters to the grave of local hero Capt. Muslihat, in the Ciomas district, the rally's destination, Dadang said.
On Monday, Dadang said he was very disappointed about what the protesters had done.
"While all Indonesians were celebrating the country's 52nd Independence Day anniversary, these men staged a protest discrediting our own government," he said, adding that all of them had been listed as regular street protesters in the city.
He said that the Sunday protest consisted of poetry reading, displaying banners and distributing pamphlets, all of which contained abusive words criticizing the government.
One of the six-meter banners seized by the police read: "Free But Emasculated Citizens". (24/bsr)