Night curfew descends on Pontianak, 6 killed
JAKARTA (JP): Pontianak mayor Buchary A. Rahman declared a curfew on Thursday night in the violence-stricken capital of West Kalimantan, following the renewal of interethnic community clashes.
The curfew, aired on the state-owned television station TVRI, bans residents from outdoor activities between 9 p.m. until 4 a.m.
As of Thursday evening at least six people had been killed in the latest eruption of the ethnic violence intermittent since 1997, when hundreds of people died in months of fighting between indigenous locals and migrant settlers.
Antara reported that two unidentified bodies were found in the city's Sungai Jawi area and three others near Jl. Pahlawan.
Buchary said the curfew was imposed due to worsening security conditions, which saw angry residents armed with sharp weapons take to streets on Thursday and set fire to dozens of houses on Jl. Tanjungpura and stores at the Flamboyan market, all belonging to migrant settlers.
Security personnel deployed to the scene did little to stop the destruction wrought by the angry residents, who later prevented firemen from fighting the fires.
Smoke was seen in many parts of the city during the violence.
Antara reported that a number of store owners were evacuated.
"This is the only way to avoid bloodshed in the area," said an official who refused to be named.
Police said at least three people were killed on the second day of the clashes, but the news agency recorded at least six fatalities in separate locations, namely Sungai Jawi area, West Pontianak district, on Jl. Pahlawan.
The clashes also injured at least eight people, who were admitted to Soedarso Provincial Hospital.
The latest violence came a day after an interethnic clash occurred over a simple dispute between a migrant bus driver and an indigenous motorcyclist on Kapuas bridge.
That incident resulted in one man killed and three others injured.
Security personnel's attempts to control the situation by blocking major thoroughfares Jl. Tanjungpura, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan and Jl. Imam Bonjol were unsuccessful.
Separately, Pontianak Police Headquarter's spokesman Ass. Supt. Suhadi S.W. said the police must obtain approval from the city leaders before they could launch a sweeping operation to disarm residents.
Military and police reinforcements from local precincts, Tanjungpura military command and from the National Police, have been deployed in the area, he added.
Local authorities have been unable to improve the security conditions and local community leaders were not seen at the location to calm the angry crowd.
Antara reported that victims of Sambas social unrest that erupted two years ago had been evacuated from Haj dormitory in Pontianak to the South Pontianak police subprecinct and several other camps were guarded by security personnel to prevent provocations that might worsen the situation. (lup)