Police fire warning shots during Nike demonstration
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Police fired two warning shots into the air to disperse a rally of some 1,000 former workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a company that produces shoes for Nike, in Tangerang.
The workers responded to police by throwing shoes at the officers, but there was no violence, reports said.
While thousands of workers took to the streets in Jakarta and other cities to protest the fuel price hike, about 1,000 of the 6,890 former workers of PT Doson held a 20-kilometer-long march to fight for their severance pay.
Braving intense heat, the workers, mostly women, started walking at 9 a.m. from the company's factory on Jl. Raya Legok to the offices of the Social Affairs Agency on Jl. Windu Karya.
Several protesters took turns making speeches, which caused severe traffic jams in the area. They also blocked an access road to the Jakarta-Merak toll road heading to Karawaci. Motorists heading to Legok and Lippo Karawaci from Jl. Imam Bonjol were also hampered by the rally.
When the protesters arrived at the Jl. Teuku Umar-Jl. Imam Bonjol intersection at 1 p.m., police officers told them to take Jl. Teuku Umar. The police fired the two warning shots when the workers refused to obey them, demanding instead to use Jl. Imam Bonjol. Some workers then threw their shoes at the officers before heeding their order.
The protesters urged both the administration of the Tangerang regency and Banten province to help settle the dispute with the company owners over their missing severance pay. They said they were in desperate need of money, especially since life had become harder without work.
"We took the legal route to fight for our severance pay, but that did not settle the problem, so now we are taking the political route," Joko Haryono, the former chairman of the company's labor union, told The Jakarta Post.
PT Doson Indonesia, a Korean company, said it was forced to close its factory in September 2002, due to the end of its supply contract with Nike.
The workers took the case to court, but no settlement has been reached yet.
The protesters arrived at the office of the Manpower Agency on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan at 1:30 p.m., but the office was quiet so they continued onward to the office of the Social Affairs Agency.
Joko said that they would stay outside the office until a settlement was reached.
The head of the agency, TB Mh. Chudori S, who met the workers, said that the protesters asked him to arrange a meeting with the regent.
"We do not have the authority to handle this case. They came to the wrong place," he told The Jakarta Post after the meeting, adding that they should have gone instead to the Manpower Agency.