Eight students wounded in clash with police

Eight students wounded in clash with police

JAKARTA (JP): A second brawl in as many days erupted in the
capital on Thursday as police moved to quell hundreds of angry
university students who were about to attack students from a
senior high school on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.

Dozens of Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Police officers fired tear
gas toward the crowds, leaving at least eight students and an
unidentified street vendor wounded, albeit slightly. They were
admitted to nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM).

The injured students were Margareta, Tasia, Dessy Theresia,
Glen and David from Indonesian Christian University (UKI), and
Rina Puspitawati, Sugianto and Natasya from Persada Indonesia
University (UPI-YAI). Most of them fainted due to inhaling too
much tear gas, while the rest suffered from bruising.

Traffic in streets leading to the scene of the incident was
congested for hours until 4 p.m. Many vehicles heading for the
area were seen making a U-turn.

On the previous day a clash broke out in front of Gambir
railway station as public order officials conducted a crackdown
against hoodlums and street vendors.

Central Jakarta Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr Iza Fadri
said Thursday's clash started when some 70 students of PGRI
senior high school in Central Salemba marched to PSKD senior high
school next to the two university campuses in search of the
pupils there.

"But on their way to PSKD school, one of the PGRI students
threw a stone into YAI campus that broke the windshield of a car
parked there," he said.

A group of YAI University students gathered inside the campus
alerted their friends that they were being attacked by students
of a vocational high school who are known for their habit of
arming themselves with sharp weapons such as machetes and knives
when brawling.

UKI students joined their YAI counterparts in taking on the
senior high school students.

Minutes later police arrived at the scene and managed to
disperse the senior high school students and pushed the YAI and
UKI students back to their respective campuses.

"But as the senior high school students withdrew, the YAI and
UKI students began to attack the police," Iza said.

However, one of the UKI students, Roy, told a different story.

"The police fired tear gas at YAI and UKI students repeatedly,
but let the senior technical school students go despite the fact
that they brandished weapons," law student Roy told The Jakarta
Post.

"Police even jostled one of our colleagues at the gate of the
University of Indonesia, instead of arresting the armed
students."

Angry and upset, the YAI and UKI students provoked the Brimob
officers with insults. Some of the students also hurled stones
and plastic bottles at them.

The students blocked Jl. Diponegoro, resulting in heavy
congestion along the road towards Salemba and along Jl.
Proklamasi, heading to Megaria.

"We demand that the police officers be withdrawn," one of the
student representatives told the police in a negotiation
following the clash.

Iza defended the police's stern measures, saying they simply
acted to uphold law and order.

"You see, is that the way university students behave? We are
here to uphold law, that's all. No matter who they are, if they
break the law, we will take strict measures," Iza told the
student representatives.

The negotiation was fruitless as the students continued to
mock the police officers, who then chased and fired more tear gas
at them.

At about 2:30 p.m. dozens of police reinforcements on
motorcycles from the City Police Sahbara Riot Unit arrived.

Some police were seen throwing stones toward the university
campuses, resulting in the breakage of many YAI campus windows.

An angry policeman on a motorbike hit and kicked a Republika
daily photographer, whom he mistakenly suspected as one of the
students.

Police left the campuses at 4:15 when National Police chief
Gen. Surojo Bimantoro arrived at RSCM for a medical checkup at
the Magnetic Resonance Image unit. (01)