Clash Between Groups of High School Students in Bandung Leaves One Dead Following Joint Iftar Meal
A student from Senior High School 5 (SMAN 5) Bandung died following an alleged assault by a group of students. The incident, which turned bloody, occurred after the victim attended a joint iftar meal (Bukber) event.
The victim’s body was found lying on Cihampelas Street in Bandung city on Friday, 13 March in the evening. The incident quickly went viral after amateur video footage from the scene spread on Instagram.
In the footage circulating online, several youths can be seen gathered near a fallen motorcycle, not far from where the victim’s motionless body lay.
“It’s getting chaotic, bro, bro, bro, bro,” said the person recording as they passed through the area on a motorcycle.
To date, the exact cause of the clash that resulted in death remains under investigation. Police have taken charge of thoroughly investigating the case.
The Coblong Police Subdistrict Chief, First Inspector Riki Erikson, confirmed the fatal incident. He explained that the case has now been handed over to the District Police level for further handling.
“The case is being handled at the District Police level,” Riki said via text message on Saturday, 14 March.
Riki confirmed that the incident occurred in the middle of the night at approximately 11 pm local time. When asked about the involvement of rival student groups, Riki strongly suspected a conflict between the two prominent schools in Bandung.
“It is correct that initial suspicions point to students from SMAN 5 and SMAN 2 (with the dispute resulting in assault),” he stated.
A detikJabar team visited the crime scene, but residents claimed not to know precisely how the clash broke out. By the time locals arrived, the victim was already dead.
“He was already lying there, already deceased,” said Adi, 40, when contacted.
According to Adi’s account, the incident began when the victim and his group were returning from the iftar event. They arrived in a large group using dozens of motorcycles from the Ciumbuleuit direction. The victim is believed to have been at the back of the convoy.
“They said the SMAN 5 students had dozens of motorcycles, coming down from the Ciumbuleuit direction. He said there were SMAN 2 students here. Nobody knows how it happened, but suddenly it turned into this. Nobody knows who started the conflict, whether it was the SMAN 2 or SMAN 5 students,” Adi explained.
Adi added that the victim’s body was found directly beneath a large tree standing at the roadside. “I saw his body already lying there,” Adi added.
Shortly after the incident, Adi immediately reported it to the authorities. The Prabu Lodaya Precision Team from Bandung District Police was the first unit to arrive at the scene, followed by the Forensics Team from the Criminal Investigation Unit of Bandung District Police to process the crime scene.