Five injured in N. Jakarta protest

JAKARTA: Five residents were injured when police opened fire to disperse a protest in the densely populated Pejagalan subdistrict in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Wednesday.

The residents had been protesting against the local administration, which had planned to relocate them following a fire that razed about 300 slum houses in the area located along the Pejagalan riverbank on Saturday, according to an activist from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, Uli Parulian, who accompanied the residents.

The people, however, objected and the discussion became heated. At the same time fire razed some makeshift houses that had been rebuilt by the residents after Saturday's fire.

The police, who had been on alert in the area, suddenly took action and fired warning shots to stop the noisy protest.

Uli told The Jakarta Post, that witnesses had seen police set fire to the houses,

A local official, however, was quoted by El Shinta radio station as saying that there was a possibility residents had actually set fire to the houses out of frustration with demands by the administration that they vacate the area. --JP