Street vendor injured in brawl

BOGOR: Dozens of Bogor administration civil service officers were involved in a brawl with vendors on Thursday that left one of the vendors injured.

The brawl broke out following a public order operation conducted by 50 civil service officers, who were attempting to move vendors in Jl. Kapten Muslihat to Jl. Dewi Sartika, beginning at 9 a.m. The officers confiscated some of the vendors' merchandise during the operation.

But the vendors refused to move, saying they would lose customers and income, causing a fear that they would not have enough money for the coming Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan and the Lebaran celebrations.

Two hours later, the vendors appeared at the Bogor City Council, where councillors promised that the confiscated merchandise would be returned to them, but on the condition that they had to be willing to move to the new location.

As they returned home, the vendors became involved in a quarrel with the officers, which later developed into a serious brawl.

During the incident, a vendor named Syam was badly beaten by the officers, who suspected him of provoking the incident. --JP