Medan Police chief says shooting incident justified

Medan Police chief says shooting incident justified

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Police here defended on Thursday
the use of severe measures against alleged looters in Dua Puluh
Baru village last week in an incident in which a woman was
killed.

Personnel complied with procedures in handling the unrest in
Binjai regency, chief of the North Sumatra Police Brig. Gen.
Sutiyono said after a ceremony to celebrate the 53rd anniversary
of the National Police.

The woman was killed when police opened fire on hundreds of
villagers, some of them children, who took over a shrimp farm
belonging to Hasan last Thursday. The local branch of the Legal
Aid Institute has filed a protest concerning the police's
measures.

"We did not mean to kill anybody. We just tried to restore
order, but it was impossible for us to only blow a whistle if
they chose to turn a deaf ear on our remarks," Sutiyono said.

He denied the woman died from a gunshot wound.

"She fell down after being shot in the leg, and the fleeing
mob trampled her to death," he said.

Police said the villagers were angered after Hasan refused to
meet their demand for a share of the shrimp harvest. Residents
living around a farm usually receive a part of the harvest in a
ceremony locally called turles.

Several police officers were injured in the unrest, the
largest incident since about 5,000 students and workers took to
the streets over a land dispute here in May. In March, two bodies
were found following a demonstration to protest environmental
damage blamed on pulp producer PT Indorayon Utama near Lake Toba.

Sutiyono accused the villagers of criminal acts through their
use of force.

He also regretted the use of women and children as human
shields in the clash.

However, he faulted Hasan for failing to comply with local
tradition.(39/amd)