Police arrest eight after clash with students

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta Police arrested eight people on Tuesday, following a clash between police and protesting students outside the campuses of the Indonesian Persada University (UPI) and YAI accounting school on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.

The clash started when police officers blocked the path of the student demonstrators, who had planned to march to the vice presidential palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta.

Despite the blockade, the students kept trying to break through the police barricade.

Students from the nearby Indonesian Christian University (UKI) campus also on Jl. Diponegoro joined the protest against the 30 percent hike in fuel prices, causing heavy traffic.

Police on motorcycles arrived at the scene and immediately cleared Jl. Diponegoro, which resulted in a clash between students and police officers.

Some students inside their campuses helped fellow students on the street by pelting stones at about 200 police officers.

The angry police officers chased the students on their motorcycles while other officers fired tear gas, causing the students to run into their campuses and Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital to take refuge.

The clash caused heavy traffic when the road to Jl. Salemba from Jl. Diponegoro was closed for two hours.

One student, Aji, who was seriously wounded above his right eye by shattered tear gas shell, said he did not know about the students actions.

"I just wanted to take some pictures when an officer suddenly pointed his weapon at my head in my campus," he said at the emergency ward of RSCM.

Under the supervision of Central Jakarta Police chief Comr. Mathius Salempang, police detectives searched each car leaving UPI campus, and detained six students: Didit, Yori, Aditya, Ricky, Bram and Roy.

"The six students had been under police surveillance since Monday's clashes here," Salempang said.

Two UKI students were also later picked up, and beaten by police before being hauled off to the Central Jakarta Police station.

Separately, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said on Tuesday that since Saturday's student protests on the hike in fuel prices, police had so far detained 40 people for questioning, some of whom had been released.

Meanwhile, students of Moestopo University burned tires in protest over the rise in fuel prices on Jl. Hang Lekir in South Jakarta on Tuesday.

The students were seen stopping public minivans and demanding drivers ask their passengers to get out of the minivans.

The drivers were then asked to join their protest. Some were even threatened that their minivans would be burned if they did not join the protest.

The demonstration caused a traffic jam in the area, particularly on Jl. Asia Afrika.

Student protests also continued at the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) campus in Ciputat, Tangerang, where the worst clash between students and police occurred on Monday.

Students were seen demanding donations from drivers of passing vehicles to fund their protest. The protests on Tuesday ended peacefully. (01/ylt)