Civilians held for Dumai clash

Civilians held for Dumai clash

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Two civilians are being detained for their alleged roles in a
clash between police and soldiers in the Riau town of Dumai,
while a local military chief has denied a group of troops
perpetrated the violence.

The two suspects, identified as Amir, 48, and Pepen Supendi,
53, were arrested on Thursday and were being questioned at the
Riau provincial police headquarters.

"They are held on charges of being involved in burning a truck
belonging to Dumai Police during the brawl," Dumai Police chief
Adj. Sr. Comr. Imron Kory said.

He said police were searching for another two civilians
suspected of involvement in last Tuesday's attack that injured
two police officers, one of whom was shot in the neck.

Earlier this week, the local military arrested only one of the
Army troops blamed for the attack, Second Sgt. Zul.

Riau's Wirabama military chief Col. Darmawi Chaidir rejected
police allegations that the attack on the Dumai police station
was launched by a group of soldiers from the Army's 004 Missile
Force unit in the town.

"The shooting was perpetrated only by Second Sgt. Zul. without
help from other soldiers," Darmawi told The Jakarta Post.

Riau Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. S. Pandiangan earlier
said soldiers shot one policeman and beat another during the
clash at the Dumai police office.

The attack followed a reported brawl between hoodlums and
soldiers in the Buangan Sampah red-light district, 15 kilometers
from Dumai.

A team of police officers later raided the red-light district
to investigate the brawl by questioning a soldier, later
identified as Zul.

Apparently offended by the questioning, the soldier went back
to his barracks to gather his friends to attack the station,
Pandiangan said.

However, Darmawi said the soldier was incensed because of the
police officers arrogance.

"At the time my subordinate (Zul) just wanted to ask why the
police officers raided the red-light district," he said.

Though Zul had revealed his identity as a soldier, the police
still beat and tortured him and insulted his military unit,
Darmawi said.

The soldier later seized a police gun and ran away. Hours
later, he rode a motorcycle to the police station and fired shots
at policemen on guard there, he said.

"So it is not true that soldiers launched a mob attack."

Asked to comment further on the violence, Darmawi said: "How
could Zul not be angry when he was still been beaten even though
the officers knew he was a soldier."

The violence shows that security forces have failed to learn
from a clash between the police and Army in the North Sumatra
town of Binjai in which three people were killed last September.

Nineteen soldiers were dismissed from the Army and sentenced
to between three months and 18 months in prison over the attack.