Jakarta police identify high-risk zones

Jakarta police identify high-risk zones

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police have identified certain areas and streets that
have the potential for clashes and traffic congestion during the
official outdoor campaign period starting on March 26.

Such areas include Jl. Mampang Prapatan in South Jakarta, Jl.
Salemba Raya and Jl. Matraman Dalam in Central Jakarta.

Other conflict-prone areas are Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta,
the Pulogadung area and Jl. Raya Bogor in East Jakarta, Jl. Yos
Sudarso in North Jakarta, Jl. Margonda Raya in Depok and Jl. Imam
Bonjol in Tangerang.

These areas have the potential for clashes and traffic jams as
they are close to congested residential areas.

A number of clashes have occurred to date, including an attack
by university students on Golkar Party supporters passing by the
university campus on their way to an indoor rally on March 17.

Another incident occurred when some students burned the flags
of three major parties on their campus. The flag burning did not
lead to any clashes but the police detained University of
Indonesia freshman Edward Noya and charged him with destruction
of property.

Despite the peaceful campaign over the last two weeks, the
police say they will still beef up security for the outdoor
campaign period, which runs until April 1, in order to preempt
any clashes, particularly in the high-risk areas that had been
identified.

"We will heighten security measures if necessary ... of
course, during the outdoor campaign phase, we will be faced with
larger crowds," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said
on Wednesday.

The force had deployed 4,000 officers to provide security
during the indoor campaign phase, which kicked off on March 11.
Additional personnel have been deployed all over Jakarta, Depok,
Bekasi and Tangerang.