Police say clashes were provoked

JAKARTA (JP): Agents provocateurs incited students and the masses to attack security forces before the bloody clash in Jakarta last Friday, National Police chief. Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi announced on Tuesday.

In a nationwide televised address, Roesmanhadi presented the police version of the Black Friday incident, in which armed troops clashed with anti-government protesters near the Semanggi cloverleaf junction.

He said students were negotiating an end to Friday's protest with security personnel deployed to safeguard the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly when the agitators appeared on the scene. They began throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and dirt at the lines of security personnel and urged others to join in.

This led directly to the clashes between security personnel and the protesters, he said.

Roesmanhadi said clashes on Thursday and Friday last week left 13 people dead, 89 hospitalized and 427 requiring medical treatment. Those killed included four students and one member of the security forces, he added.

Independent estimates put the death toll from the two days of violence at 15 people, including seven university students and one high school student.

The police chief laid the blame for the riots on a group of opposition politicians who last week openly called for an alternative government. This, he said, had incited the students and mobilized the masses.

He said the group met in the Sahid Jaya Hotel on Thursday to issue their declaration, which then received nationwide publicity.

"They had the motive and they made the initial move," Roesmanhadi said, adding that the police will continue to investigate the matter and are currently gathering more evidence and testimony.

He said the group members would be charged with treason under Article 10 of the Criminal Code if enough evidence is uncovered, although he did not say how many people have been listed as suspects in the case. (emb)