College students take to streets

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of students from the city's biggest private university took to the streets yesterday, stopping buses and looking for high school students who had allegedly attacked their campus earlier in the day.

The students of Trisakti University economic school were angry after they learned that their campus on Jl. Achmad Yani in East Jakarta had been attacked by unknown high school students, according to several eyewitnesses.

However a police officer at the Cempaka Putih police sub- precinct could not confirm whether the campus had been attacked by several high-school students as no reports have been filed with the precinct on the matter.

Fifty police officers from the Central Jakarta police precinct helped by several military officers armed with rattan shields and wooden sticks were assigned to disperse the rioting students.

They arrested Iwan, 26, on suspicion of provoking the university students. "Iwan claimed that he was a Trisakti University student, but after we asked for his I.D. card we discovered he is not a student at the university," an officer said.

The incident, which started at 12 p.m, held up traffic on the street for almost three hours.

A private television station's cameraman was asked by the angry students to give his video cassette to them. Other reporters swiftly hid their cameras for fear that they would be taken as well.

Some high school students who happened to be on the buses stopped by the university students offered resistance, while others tried to escape.

The action came a day after a brawl at the university's headquarters on Jl. Kyai Tapa, in West Jakarta, on Wednesday in which around 5,000 university students stopped passing buses to look for a technical high school student who had allegedly stabbed their fellow student, Rachmat Chandra, 21.

Rachmat was reportedly mobbed by a group of high-school students and was stabbed by one the assailants on Wednesday morning. He reportedly suffered severe injuries to his stomach and head.

Today's incident has shocked many people, especially since it took place at a time when police and security officers are intensifying crackdowns on student disputes which have recently flared up in the city.

The city police yesterday continued the operation on student brawls and apprehended around 200 high school students in the city.

The Central Jakarta Police seized three machetes, one sword, 15 belts which had bicycles cogwheels or larger steel discs in the place of buckles, and hundreds of barbiturate pills.

Some 50 technical high school students in Central Jakarta aboard a bus were stopped and taken away in police trucks.

The police found three machetes and a whip which was made from a fish tail among the students.

Meanwhile, the South Jakarta Police apprehended about 80 students. Most of them were caught at Block M mall, the city's biggest shopping center.

Some parents of students who were apprehended on Wednesday were seen at the police station, looking for their sons.

The police later released the students, who spent the night at the police precinct after they signed statements saying they will no longer become involved in brawls.

The Jakarta Military Command Chief Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso said on Wednesday that his command will set up a Military Command School. Such a school is to be set up to train students under strict military discipline.

In the last seven days, three teenagers, including a 13-year- old junior high school student, have been killed in brawls. (04)