JP/1/BALI

JP/1/BALI

Balinese protesters storm prison

I Wayan Juniartha
The Jakarta Post/Denpasar

Frustrated with the sluggish progress in the implementation of
the death sentence for three of the 2002 Bali bombers, hundreds
of angry Balinese protesters stormed and vandalized a prison on
Wednesday where several convicted Bali bombers were being held.
The protest had little political repercussions but it sent a
clear signal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that, for the
Balinese, enough was enough. The protesters have left no option
for Susilo, but to reject the clemency sought by the bombers and
to have them executed immediately.

The first group of protesters arrived at around 4 p.m.
Initially, there were only 30 of them. Thirty minutes later the
number grew to around 400 protesters."By 5:30 p.m, the number was
somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 protesters," a police officer
said. The protesters came from as far as Beraban village in
Tabanan regency. Yet, the majority of the protesters came from
several traditional customary villages of Desa Pekraman in the
Kerobokan area.

The two iron gates that stood between the prison's outer yard
and the road were the first victims of the angry protesters. They
shook the gates violently until both collapsed. The mob later
threw the gates into a narrow gutter after jumping and stamping
on them repeatedly.

They then tore down the low concrete fence that connected the
two broken gates before hurling stones and pebbles onto the
prison's roof. A few protesters who tried to calm the mob were
soon out-shouted by their raging colleagues.

"Bali has already been destroyed. It will make no difference
if we raze this prison to the ground," a protester yelled before
hammering a long iron pole into a concrete slab in front of the
prison. By that time, all the shops around the prison had been
closed and the police closed off all roads leading to the area.
"It is a natural response from a wounded community that has been
treated insensitively by the central government. In fact, it is a
mild response compared to the anger that is seething in our
heart," a protest leader Madra Adnyana said.

The protesters did not try to storm the prison's main gate,
which was cordoned off by at least 300 riot police and dozens of
plainclothes officers from the Denpasar and Badung Police.

Wearing Balinese headbands and sarongs, the crowd repeatedly
yelled "kill Amrozi, kill Amrozi" during the protest held hours
after the 2002 bombing survivors held a commemoration of the
terror attack three years ago that killed 202 people, mostly
foreign tourists. Amrozi was the most sought after bomber by the
angry Balinese due to his demeanor in the courtroom, which gained
him the title "the smiling bomber". Amrozi was among three
people sentenced to death after the 2002 Bali bombings, which
dealt a huge blow to Bali's tourist industry, the backbone of the
island's economy.

Due to security concerns, Amrozi and the two other convicts on
death row, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, had been transferred on
Tuesday to Nusa Kambangan prison in Central Java. But, several
other convicts responsible for the 2002i bombing are still being
kept at Kerobokan Prison. Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas have
not been executed pending their request for clemency.

The incident at Kerobokan Prison was a culmination of anger
and frustration of the Balinese after the island was hit by
another bomb attack on Oct. 1. The bombing in Jimbaran and Kuta
Square, which took place hours after the government increased
fuel prices by 126 percent, killed 23 people.

Fortunately, the protest did not turn into an all out riot as
police personnel succeeded in persuading the protesters to not
resort to violence.