People ran amok at Monas

JAKARTA (JP): About 100 people ran amok at the National Monument (Monas), Central Jakarta, here on Tuesday as officials from the mayoralty and the Central Jakarta District Court came into conflict with street vendors prohibited from selling in the area.

A tent, erected to accommodate summary court proceedings against street vendors apprehended for illegal trading, was torched during the fray. Several wooden chairs and desks inside the tent were also burned.

According to Oktofianus, one of the security officials at Monas, the operation was not specifically aimed at rounding up vendors in the area that day but rather to conduct proceedings on some 20 people, mostly vendors, who had been ticketed during a previous operation several days earlier.

He maintained that security officials at the time were merely circulating around the area while appealing to other vendors not to conduct business in the prohibited area around Monas.

However the appeal was apparently not well received as several vendors rushed off to Gambir train station adjacent to Monas.

Not long after, some 100 people armed with small daggers and other offensive weapons marched from Gambir train station to the court tent and attacked the officials.

"They knocked down military police motorcycles parked near the tent and frightened everyone. There were only about 30 officials on the scene, so we had to run to save our lives," Oktofianus recalled.

Eight men, however, were taken to the Central Jakarta Police station for questioning. Two were detained for possession of weapons. (07)