NGO protests civilian attack

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Yogyakarta's Non-Governmental Organizations' (NGO) Forum strongly condemned an attack by a group of civilians on students protesting militarism in front of the Yogyakarta studios of state-owned radio station RRI on Thursday.

In its written statement made available to the media, the Forum, consisting of 74 NGOs, said that the incident indicated that civilians had now became the 'vehicle of violence'.

A group of people garbed in black and wielding offensive weapons attacked the student protesters, leaving two students injured.

"It is not the first time that civilians have attacked student protesters in Yogyakarta. Nothing has been done to deal with this, however," the statement, signed by Martinus Ujianto and Damar Dwi Nugroho, said.

"We, therefore, demand that the Yogyakarta Provincial Police conduct a thorough probe into the incident and take the assailants to the court." the statement added. (swa)