Protest heat up over Depok poll

Protest heat up over Depok poll

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tempers flared on Monday against the West Java High Court's
ruling annulling the victory of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)
candidate Nur Mahmudi Ismail in the Depok mayoral election
despite calls for peaceful protests.

More than 1,000 PKS supporters scuffled with police in front
of the Depok Council building on Monday as they tried to force
their way into the heavily guarded compound.

The supporters, consisting of members of the PKS and several
other Islamic groups in Depok, arrived at the council building at
12:45 p.m. carrying banners and posters denouncing the court
verdict that declared Golkar Party candidate Badrul Kamal the
winner of the June 26 Depok election.

"We want to confirm whether the council sent an official
letter to the West Java governor about the poll result and its
recommendation to inaugurate Nur Mahmudi," Saleh, one of the
protesters, told The Jakarta Post.

After several minutes of consolidation, they started pushing
police personnel guarding the building in an attempt to meet the
councillors.

Fearing that the demonstrators would engage in anarchic acts,
a group of police officers, who had been guarding the building
since early morning, sealed off the entrance.

Not wanting to give up, Nur Mahmudi's supporters pushed the
police to force their way into the compound.

The police, who appeared to be ordered to defend the doors,
pushed back and it is likely a clash would have broken out
between the two sides had the councillors not announced that they
were willing to meet with the protesters.

Depok council deputy chairman Amri Yusra, who met the
protesters, said that they were trying to find out whether the
letter had been received by the governor or not.

"We sent a letter on July 25. We don't know if the letter has
been received by the governor. We need time to examine where the
letter is," he told the crowd.

Amri then read out a copy of the letter in front of the
protesters.

The letter asked the governor to notify the minister of home
affairs about the Depok poll result.

After an hour of dialog, the protesters left the council
building.

However, they gave the council three days to make sure the
letter was received by the governor.

"If within three days the council has not delivered the letter
to the governor, we will come again," protest coordinator Roy
Prygina said.