Cinangka villagers questioned over vandalism
Cinangka villagers questioned over vandalism
JAKARTA (JP): Bogor police officers on Friday were still
questioning dozens of Cinangka villagers following the
destruction of the office of the local Ciampea subdistrict chief
on the previous day.
As of Friday evening, the police had yet to name any of the
villagers as suspects in leading the mob to vandalize the
government property.
"Everything is already under control here as we're still
investigating the case," an officer at the Ciampea police
subprecinct told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Friday.
The officer, who asked not to be named, refused to give
further details about the questioning.
Bogor police chief Lt. Col. Ferial Manaf could not be reached
for comment.
According to media reports, a group of some 300 Cinangka
villagers attacked the empty office at 10 a.m. Thursday. They
were expressing their frustration at the negative reaction of
Ciampea subdistrict chief Iyun Mulyana to their complaints about
the business melting storage batteries in their neighborhood.
No fatalities were reported but Mulyana's office was badly
damaged by the angry mob, who claimed to have many times urged
the local authorities to close down the melting activity as it
polluted the local river and air.
Witnesses said the crowd was suddenly spotted swarming around
the chief's office, causing a heavy traffic jam on the main road
that links Bogor and Leuwiliang, south of here.
On the first day after the Idul Fitri holidays the office was
still empty. Mulyana was reportedly on holiday in his hometown of
Garut, West Java.
After damaging the front of the office and pulling out the
signboard in front of the building, the mob got inside the office
and vandalized everything they found.
Some of them took out bundles of archives and documents from
the office and threw them onto the street.
The mob could only be dispersed peacefully a few hours later
thanks to the arrival of some 50 police officers and soldiers at
the site.
A few minutes later, the security forces were alerted again
following a fresh fight between the protesting residents and
locals who were involved in the battery business.
No serious incident happened but the security forces were
still being asked to safeguard the area.
According to the protesting villagers, they had several times
asked the local officers to immediately seal off the illegal
business for the sake of their health and environment.
"But we so far got no positive response," said one of them.
"We became more upset after learning that our Cinangka village
chief, Mrs. Atang, also takes part in the business as a supplier
of charcoals," he added. (bsr)