Hooligans leave trains vandalized

Hooligans leave trains vandalized

JAKARTA (JP): Visiting soccer fans from Surabaya and Semarang
caused at least Rp 500 million (US$58,823) in damage to trains of
the state railway company Perumka, a company spokesman said on
Sunday.

Zainal Abidin said the material losses were mainly due to
broken windows of the trains, including the express Jakarta-
Surabaya Argo Bromo.

"At least 1,900 window panes were damaged," Zainal said.

Cost of replacing the Argo's windows, for example, could reach
Rp 1 million each, he added.

Zainal said the cost calculation was tentative.

Thousands of soccer fans, locally known as bonek, of PSIS
Semarang and Persebaya Surabaya flocked to the capital beginning
on Wednesday to watch Thursday's semifinals in the Indonesian
Soccer League playoffs at Senayan stadium in Central Jakarta.
Both teams made the final.

However, some of the fans started pelting passing trains upon
their arrival in the city.

About 12 hours before the game started, nine PSIS fans were
fatally crushed by a speeding train on a railway track in South
Jakarta. Another man was electrocuted on a train roof in East
Jakarta.

Fears of possible unrest and more fatalities led the soccer
authorities to reschedule Sunday's final from Jakarta to Manado,
North Sulawesi, on either April 9 or April 10.

At busy Senen Railway Station in Central Jakarta on Sunday,
dozens of Persebaya fans packed a train for a free ride home.

"We have supplied them with dozens of lunch boxes today but
they will still ask for cigarettes and snacks in the afternoon,"
Second Lt. Prawito from the riot police said.

Separately, 500 fans were transported on seven military trucks
from Senen to Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, awaiting the
arrival of Navy ships to transport them to Surabaya.

Many of the fans, notable for their disheveled appearance and
brash attitude, remained wandering through the city on Sunday
evening.

A police source said penniless soccer fans were spotted
busking and extorting money from passersby along the capital's
main thoroughfares. (emf)