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)