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.