Students arrested over alleged arson at airport
Students arrested over alleged arson at airport
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police arrested three students on Tuesday for allegedly inciting
a rally at Polonia airport in Medan to demand the government
disburse resettlement funds for refugees from Aceh.
Darwin Syahputra, Joranda Irfan and Jusron Yusri of the Medan
Institute of Technology were taken to the local police station
after police suspected them of attempted arson.
Witnesses said a group of police officers beat the three
students up before taking them to the police station.
Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bagus Kurniawan confirmed the
arrest, but said he would release the students as soon as they
had received medical treatment.
"We are not providing them with medical treatment because we
detained them," Bagus said.
The students had turned angry after police prevented them from
joining 1,500 refugees from Aceh who had set up a human roadblock
near the airport.
The refugees were demanding a meeting with Minister of Social
Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah, about to return to Jakarta after a
four-day visit to Aceh and North Sumatra on Tuesday.
It was the second rally in front of the airport within a week
to demand resettlement funds that had been withheld by Bachtiar
following a report of a Rp 2.6 billion (US$289,000) scam. The
central government has allocated Rp 105 billion to some 12,000
refugee families, with each family due to receive Rp 8.75
million.
More than 4,000 families had not yet received the money when
Bachtiar suspended disbursement of the funds. The minister did
not make time to hold talks with either local government
officials or the refugees to resolve the issue.
Hundreds of refugees have protested the slow disbursement of
the funds for almost two weeks. One of them died on Saturday of
malnutrition, while four others were hospitalized for staging a
hunger strike.
On Monday some 5,000 refugees staged a fresh rally in front of
the gubernatorial office.
Director of the Medan Legal Aid Institute Irham Buana Nasution
refuted police allegations that the three students had intended
to set the airport on fire.
"They had not intended to do any such thing. The police simply
arrested them because they tried to break through the security
cordon," Irham said.