Seven shot at protest against new dump
Seven shot at protest against new dump
The Jakarta Post, Bogor/Jakarta
A protest over a waste treatment plant turned violent on Monday
as police opened fire on residents of Bojong village in
Klapanunggal district, Bogor, wounding seven.
Police fired live rounds into the crowd after protesters
allegedly attempted to set the plant on fire. Reinforcement
officers arrived at about 3 p.m. and arrested 33 residents for
provoking the violence.
Officers continued to pour into the area late on Monday to
search for additional suspects.
Four Bojong residents, accompanied by non-governmental
organization activists, met with National Police chief of
detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung late on Monday to protest
the police's actions.
"My husband was arrested while he was sitting on the porch
with me. He is innocent," said Ini, whose husband Ta'ing was in
police custody as of Monday night.
She said armed officers burst into her house and the homes of
her neighbors searching for suspects. "They broke down the doors
and kicked holes in them."
Rachland Nashidik of the Indonesian Human Rights Watch
demanded that the officers be pulled out of Bojong.
Haris Azhar from the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims
of Violence said the police were searching homes in the area
without warrants.
Both activists characterized the police's actions as a gross
violation of residents' rights.
"The police should have calmed the situation, but apparently
they are biased in the matter," Harris said.
The clash began when about 2,000 residents were protesting
against a planned trial of the Bojong waste treatment plant. The
protest turned ugly when residents allegedly attempted to burn
down the plant.
"We demand that the plant be closed immediately because it can
make us sick. It would be better to build a red-light district
here than to flood us with garbage," said one resident, Mi'ah,
48, who has been protesting against the plant since last year.
Ten Bogor Police officers and 10 members of the police's elite
Mobile Brigade were guarding the plant and its employees at the
time of the protest. They used tear gas and opened fire when the
protesters attempted to attack the plant.
The officers and plant staff were eventually forced to flee
through the rear of the plant.
Bogor Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Wasgito said the
shootings did not follow procedure and that he would form a
special team to investigate the incident.
"The Mobile Brigade officers fired their rifles. Their
presence at the plant had nothing to do with us. The company
hired them without coordinating with us," he said.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said the protesters should be
punished for vandalizing the waste treatment facility, which when
operational is expected to absorb one-third of the 6,000 tons of
garbage the capital produces each day.