Rally to support Agus turns violent
Rally to support Agus turns violent
Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
A rally to demand the government to take concrete steps to
release Agus Dwikarna, an Indonesian national jailed in Manila,
turned violent on Monday after demonstrators failed to meet
Governor HZB Palaguna.
Dozens of people claiming to represent the Islamic Societal
Organizations Communication Forum (Formasi), became angry and
tried to force their way into the governor's room on the second
floor of the provincial administration office on Jl. Urip
Sumoharjo after they waited for an hour to have a hearing with
Palaguna.
Some beat the door, but several members of the Committee for
Sharia Enforcement in Indonesia (KPSI), who arrived after the
first group, managed to calm the angry demonstrators.
The violent protest scared local government employees, who
immediately abandoned their work or locked their offices when the
mob searched the second floor for Palaguna.
The governor was receiving guests, including a Singaporean
businessman, in another room when the incident took place at
about 11:30 a.m. local time.
"They (the protesters) got angry as they thought Palaguna was
hiding in his office. They had no intention of becoming violent,
they just lost their patience because not one official appeared
to respond to them after they waited an hour," KPSI secretary-
general Aswar Hasan said.
Several provincial councillors accompanied the Formasi
activists during the rally in the compound of the gubernatorial
office, where some 200 people coming from some regencies in the
province took part in the demonstration.
About one and a half hours after the incident, the head of the
provincial National Unity Board, Darumakka, was chosen to meet
the protesters.
Later in the day, Palaguna expressed his regret over the rally
and asked that if any group wished to air their demands, that
they avoid the use of violence.
He claimed that his administration had tried many times
through diplomatic measures to ask Manila to release Agus, who
was sentenced early his month to 10 years and one day for
possession of explosives.