Students against street brawls

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)