Wed, 29 Sep 1999

One student dies, dozens injured in Lampung clash

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung (JP): One student was killed and dozens other injured here on Tuesday when security personnel clashed with demonstrators against the state security bill.

At least 13 students were detained by police following the bloody incidents.

The dead student was identified as Yusuf Rizal, 23, a student of Lampung University's social and political science school.

Witnesses claim he was killed by a live bullet which went through his neck. The body is at Abdoel Moeloek Hospital.

However, there was no confirmation on the cause of death as of Tuesday evening.

An uncle of the deceased, Abu Tholib, said he would not yet permit an autopsy of his nephew's body if it was only to mask the cause of death.

"If it's merely to avert the law and shield the cause of death then we as the family will not allow Rizal to have an autopsy. But if it is to uphold the law, then we will permit it," Tholib said on Tuesday night.

The Committee for the Advocacy for the People's Movement released information that at least 38 were wounded, most of whom were students suffering bullet wounds.

The clash occurred at about 10 a.m., after students from various universities in the province convened in front of the campus to protest the controversial bill.

The protesters then marched to the headquarters of the Garuda Hitam Military resort. However, they were stopped at the district military headquarters located just a few meters from the campus.

Students then proceeded to lower the flag at the district headquarters to half-staff and vandalized signs inside the buildings.

Shots were heard not long after. The direction of the shots and who exactly fired them is unclear but students retaliated by pelting the district headquarters.

Security officers responded by chasing the students and firing.

The melee escalated into a mob involving some 5,000 as other people joined the students in fighting the soldiers.

Bottles and homemade Molotov cocktails were hurled.

Security forces, comprising military and police officers, also reportedly raided the campus to weed out students at about 1:45 p.m.

When Garuda Hitam Military Headquarters chief Col. Mudjiono was asked about the use of live bullets, he responded that he heard about the death of a student.

Meanwhile, police insisted that they only used rubber bullets to disperse Tuesday's protest.

Protests against the security bill has hit several major cities since it was controversially passed by the House of Representatives last week.

In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of students of Sisingamangaraja XII University also staged a protest against the bill by burning debris on the main avenue of Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan.

The group demanded the bill be revoked.

The rally caused a major traffic headache as police had to divert traffic for the day.

In Semarang, Central Java, about 75 cadres of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) staged a protest in front of the City Council building on Jl. Pahlawan here at noon.

Apart from calling for the bill to be revoked, they also demanded President B.J. Habibie and Minister of Security and Defense/Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto be held accountable for the outbreak of violence in the country. (39/har/edt/42/emf)