Police detain five protesters during anti-Soeharto rally

Police detain five protesters during anti-Soeharto rally

JAKARTA (JP): City police detained at least five people during
an anti-Soeharto rally which ended in a violent clash between
hundreds of protesters and the some 200 police officers near the
University of Indonesia in Salemba, Central Jakarta on Tuesday
afternoon.

Contacted on Wednesday, police spokesman Supt. Muhammad Nur
Usman said the five, including three university students, were
still under police detention, pending further investigation on
the rally and clash.

"The five had disturbed public peace and some of the
protesters were found asking money from passersby on the street
(Jl. Salemba Raya) to fund their rallies," Nur told The Jakarta
Post.

The clash erupted after police, initially observing from a
distance, rushed to the site when the protesters blocked the busy
street in front of the university with a big truck loaded with
heavy sound system equipment.

The protesters, mostly students grouped under Forkot (City
Forum) and Dewan Mahasiswa Jabotabek (Greater Jakarta Students
Council) or DMJ, started arriving at the site since 1 p.m.

According to officer Nur, the protesters then held speeches
condemning former president Soeharto and demanding the government
hold a "real" trial against him.

Nur added the group had initially planned to set up an open
stage in the middle of the street to express their demands.

He said the police learned that the protesters' actions had
caused a heavy traffic jam reaching Jl. Senen Raya, which is more
than two kilometers north.

"The protesters occupied almost two-thirds of the street," the
spokesman explained.

Moreover, he said, the police received complaints from
motorists about the disturbance caused by the anti-Soeharto
protesters.

According to Nur, police personnel were then ordered to
disperse the protesters at about 3:30 p.m. but the demonstrators
pelted the officers with stones.

In retaliation, the police fired tear gas canisters toward the
protesters, forcing some of them to take refuge at nearby
buildings such as the Indonesian Christian University (UKI),
Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) office and St. Carolus Hospital.

According to Antara, a reporter from RCTI television station
was beaten by police when covering the fierce clash.

The truck used by the protesters to block the street was later
seized and taken to the Jakarta Police Headquarters as evidence.

"We have to net them (unruly protesters). We have to start
taking stern measures against protesters who disturb public
order," Nur explained.

Violent attack

LBH executives reported on Wednesday that some of their
office's glass windows and a glass door were shattered by stones
and blank bullets. They also claimed that the windscreens of two
cars belonging to its staff were shattered by stones.

LBH executives accused the police of having committed the
violent attack, Antara stated.

Thus, they have asked the Jakarta Police to take
responsibility in compensating for damages to the LBH office and
the properties of its staff and dismissing police officers who
had committed the violent actions.

Nur denied the allegations saying the police officers deployed
at the scene of Tuesday's rally carried no firearms at all, only
tear gas canisters.

But he promised to examine the damages at the LBH office
compound.

"Hopefully, we can obtain some useful information from the
five detainees.

But it's impossible that our officers had attacked the office
as we had no reason to do so," Nur said, adding that his office
would take stiff measures if the LBH's allegations are proved
true. (dja)