One dies, three injured in student brawls

JAKARTA (JP): A high school student was beaten to death by other students in a brawl in front of Cipinang Penitentiary, in East Jakarta, police said yesterday.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang confirmed Wawan Riyanto, 17, a student of Al Falah private technical senior high school, died Wednesday night in Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

Yesterday his family took his body home to Boyolali, Central Java, for burial.

"The victim had severe head injuries," Aritonang said.

The postmortem at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital showed he died from being beaten with blunt objects, he said.

Wawan and nine friends were taking a public bus home when students started throwing stones at their bus, he said.

The 10 students on the bus called to the driver to stop, and they got off to chase their assailants.

Aritonang said Wawan and his friends got back on the bus when they saw the other students running toward them with sticks and swords.

But Wawan fell out of the bus and was mobbed and beaten, he said.

"The attackers fled leaving the Wawan unconscious," Aritonang said.

Local residents rushed him to Persahabatan hospital, but he died during treatment.

South Jakarta

On Tuesday night two students from another private technical senior high school, and a security guard, were seriously wounded in a brawl in South Jakarta. But they were all released from hospital yesterday.

The students were seriously wounded with knives and swords in a brawl between the students of three schools near a bus shelter on Jl. Belitung.

A police officer at the South Jakarta Police precinct said Nurul Huda, 18, an aviation high school student was slashed in the face, head, hands and legs. Nurlam, 17, a student of Dwikora technical senior high school was slashed across the face.

A security guard working at a nearby building, Agus Muslim, was slashed in the face when he tried to break up the fight, the officer said.

He said the brawl started when dozens of students from PGRI a private senior high school on Jl. Budi Utomo, Central Jakarta threw stones at students on their way home by public bus, smashing the bus windows.

The students on the bus then chased their attackers.

In the subsequent brawl two PGRI students pulled out swords and stabbed Nurul and Nurlam, the officer who asked not to be named said.

The PGRI students fled when the students fell.

Police did not catch the students. They found only a rusty sword and its sheath on the ground.

Police rushed the injured to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, he said. At least 15 students were killed in separate brawls here last year. Several suspects are still at large. (jun)