Matraman witnesses commonplace brawl

Matraman witnesses commonplace brawl

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of angry Kebon Manggis and Pal Meriam
residents of Matraman, East Jakarta, strung arrows, threw rocks
and Molotov cocktails at each other, and exchanged stick blows on
Thursday over a sudden stabbing of a man who incidentally got off
a bus in their area.

No fatalities were reported, but six were injured. Two
residents suffered wounds from air rifle shots, two sustained
head injuries, and one man was struck by an arrow on his cheek.

Matraman Police chief Capt. Bambang Hadipurnomo said on
Thursday the brawl occurred due to an unrelated incident.

"A Mampang resident of South Jakarta, Nanang, got off the
public bus 916, which serves the Tanah Abang-Kampung Melayu
route, in front of the Surya Padang restaurant, near Jl. Tegalan,
at about 2 p.m... the Pal Meriam side," Bambang said.

"He got down, and eight people surrounded him... one man
stabbed him. Others grabbed his wallet and left."

Nanang was rushed to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital,
but some ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers managed to chase after a
fleeing suspect.

"The suspect disappeared somewhere in Berlan, in the Kebon
Manggis area," Bambang said.

After that, Pal Meriam and Kebon Manggis residents just came
out with their machetes, rocks, arrows, sticks and air rifles and
started aiming at one another.

Less than 100 officers from East Jakarta Police, the Matraman
Police, the Jakarta Police and the Military Police, were seen in
the area standing by and watching.

"What can we do? We do anything crazy, the residents will aim
at us," Bambang said.

East Jakarta Police could not send for reinforcements, since
its personnel were deployed in Duren Sawit, to watch over the
possibility of another protest by City Tap Water Company (PDAM
Jaya) employees, and in the area of the paint factory PT
Danapaint, on Jl. Pemuda in East Jakarta.

The paint factory's empty warehouse, which was filled with
chemicals, was burned down on Thursday morning in unclear
circumstances.

Separately, East Jakarta Police Chief of Detectives Capt. Agus
Irianto said on Thursday that police had yet to find the source
of the fire, which burned down the factory's warehouse,
containing chemicals and basic materials to manufacture paint, at
8:50 a.m. on Thursday.

"It happened when the factory workers were all on a holiday in
Yogyakarta," Agus told reporters.

A warehouse security guard Suryanto said there were only three
guards when the incident happened, namely Sumarmo, Amir Machmud
and himself.

"Sumarmo was the first to notice the smoke, coming out from
the locked warehouse. We tried to get help, but in a very short
time, the fire became very big. We were frantic when we heard the
loud bursts of the chemical drums inside the warehouse," Suryanto
said.

"Local residents came to help put out the fire... the fire was
quite enormous by the time the 19 fire engines from South
Jakarta, East Jakarta and North Jakarta arrived."

The fire was put out in an hour's time. (ylt)