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.