Street stands destroyed

Street stands destroyed

BANDUNG (JP): Dozens of street stands along Jl. Cibadak were
destroyed by angry mobs following a fight between a becak (three-
wheel pedicab) driver and a trader on Friday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses said it all started after Yanto, the becak
driver, hit a cart pulled by Udin, a cloth trader. Another trader
came and smacked Yanto in the face.

Yanto left but, he returned shortly after with a group of
people, who later destroyed the stands.

The police arrived at the location and fired shots into the
air to disperse the crowd. When they ignored the warnings, the
police blocked the road heading to the area to prevent the fight
spreading.

It was reported that the incident was the culmination of old
conflicts between local residents, who are Sundanese, and
traders, who mostly came from outside the province.

The crowd disbursed late in the night after Bandung mayor
Endjang Sudarsono, the local police chief, an activist of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and some community
leaders came and promised to relocate the street traders. (43)