Students against street brawls

TANGERANG (JP): Hundreds of students from several schools staged a protest on Saturday in Cibodas, Jatiuwung district here, condemning an upward trend in student brawls.

The protesting students, who called themselves members of the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement, held a free speech forum and unfurled banners, some of which read The Bogor Incident should not be Repeated.

The students were referring to a recent Bogor brawl which left 14 students drowned in Cisadane River.

Ardiyansyah, one of the protesting students, said the protest was not only meant to prevent students from participating in brawls, but all the nation's people.

"We just do not want students of this nation, particularly Tangerang students, to be involved in brawls. We condemn all kinds of brawls," Ardiyansyah said.

The protest was initially planned to be held as a long march, beginning at Cibodas and ending at the Tangerang office of the Ministry of Education and Culture at Cikokol, tens of kilometers away from the area.

However, Tangerang authorities forbade it with the reason that the march could be taken advantage of by provocateurs.

No representatives of the Tangerang office of the Ministry of Education and Culture showed up, even though they had been asked to attend the protest to convey their protest. The protest ended at 12:30 p.m. (41/ylt)