One student dies, dozens injured in Lampung clash

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)