Police say clashes were provoked

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)