Plans to bring body to DPR dropped

JAKARTA (JP): Friends of a hoodlum who was fatally shot by police on Friday have dropped their plans to carry the corpse to the House of Representatives.

Two representatives of the hoodlum's friends agreed yesterday to bury him peacefully, Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said.

The men, Hendrikus and Valentine, met the Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira, to convey their agreement regarding the remains of the late Immanuel Soares, Iman said.

He said Soares was shot twice in the back early Friday morning after trying to attack officers, two hours after hacking to death a 55-year-old deaf vendor in the Bongkaran slum area in the Tanah Abang district.

Soares was known as a troublemaker by local vendors.

The shooting led to protests from his friends, who went to the morgue at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital where the body was kept. They insisted on taking the corpse, which they planned to carry to the House of Representatives.

The men were unable to take custody of the body as they did not have police permission to do so.

"Nobody in this country is allowed to take away any corpse and carry it in a procession on the road," Lt. Col. Abubakar said. (bsr)