Bondowoso Police shoot dead five attackers

Bondowoso Police shoot dead five attackers

JAKARTA (JP): Five people were shot dead by police who were
attempting to fend off a mob attacking a police station in the
East Java town of Bondowoso, National Police chief Gen. Surojo
Bimantoro said on Thursday.

"I have a report from the East Java Police chief that
yesterday (Wednesday) at 5 p.m., an attack on the Bondowoso
district police station took place by some 600 people carrying
fuel bombs, sickles and other weapons," Bimantoro told
journalists after attending a Cabinet meeting.

The attackers set fire to Bondowoso Police station and in
their efforts to repel and disperse the mob, police shot dead
five and left several injured.

"In facing it (the attack), the police went through all
existing procedures, from using rubber bullets to live ones,"
Bimantoro said.

He said the attack was in protest of the release of a murder
suspect.

Police released the suspect due to lack of evidence, Bimantoro
said, but the move angered the local population who torched the
suspect's home and later attacked the police station.

He said that the situation in Bondowoso had since returned to
normal.

"The situation is now calm," Bimantoro said, adding that the
province's police chief, Insp. Gen. Dai Bachtiar, had immediately
gone to Bondowoso and held talks with local public and religious
leaders.

Bondowoso Police chief Supt. Marwoto Suto said later in the
day, however, that security personnel were still on high alert to
anticipate further unrest.

He also said that a platoon of police Mobile Brigade personnel
and one battalion of Army troops from the nearby town of Jember
would be deployed to Bondowoso to reinforce security.

However, from the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya,
the regional chief of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization,
Ali Maschan Moesa, claimed that the unrest was sparked by
people's discontent over Marwoto's possible involvement in a
gambling ring.

"The East Java Police chief has even acknowledged that he
(Marwoto) is slow in tackling gambling. But the people of
Bondowoso feel that he is not only slow but actually behind the
gambling," Ali said as quoted by Antara, adding that Marwoto must
be replaced.

"The police chief has promised that he will be replaced ... I
have told people the news, and that's why the situation has
calmed down," Ali added.(byg/nur)