Police arrest, beat students protesting general elections

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Central Jakarta police arrested 54 protesting students, six of them girls, just as they were dispersing after staging an anti- election rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.

The students, members of the Jaringan Kota (Jarkot) or City Network, were being interrogated late into Tuesday night and the police denied them their right to have a lawyer present.

"We hired a lawyer to accompany our friends but a police officer, who claimed to be the chief detective of the precinct, said the lawyer had no 'attestation letter' from the arrested students," the network spokesman, Ukay, told The Jakarta Post.

"Police claimed that the interrogation was still going on. We want them to release our friends."

A student said the police accused them of being in possession of weapons -- specifically machetes.

"We only have our bamboo poles to hold our organizations' flags," Ukay said, adding that they kept the tips of the bamboo poles blunt so they could not be mistaken for spears.

The students started the protest outside the House of Representatives compound on Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto, Central Jakarta, and moved to the traffic circle to distribute pamphlets to motorists.

The students suggested that the public not exercise their right to vote in the upcoming general election "as none of the possible candidates nor the system of the elections could be trusted".

They were about to disperse at around 5 p.m. when a policeman approached the minibuses they hired and ordered them to leave. The policeman later took the keys of the front minibus. As the students protested, the policeman called for backup.

About 100 riot police came and started to beat the students.

The Law prohibits the use of force to make others vote or not vote. However, many activists understand the article differently as they considered it open to interpretation.

Central Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. Sukrawardi Dahlan could not be reached for comment as of 11 p.m. Tuesday night.