Students beat up Makassar policeman

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: A group of students, believed to be members of the local branch of the Association of Muslim Students (HMI), mobbed a policeman on Wednesday in front of their headquarters on Jl. Bontolempangan.

This is the second incident since the HMI office was ransacked on Monday resulting in three HMI students being injured.

Wednesday's incident began when the students started distributing pamphlets in front of their office to protest at Monday's incident when Sgt. Haryanto passed by.

He was immediately confronted by the students and a brawl soon erupted.

Luckily several HMI executives saw the incident and quickly stopped the attack on Haryanto who is currently being treated in the emergency ward of Bhayangkara Hospital.

Makassar Police chief Comm. Muhammad Amin Saleh regretted the incident and said police would question those responsible.

Tensions have been high since Monday when the HMI headquarters was attacked after police entered the group's premises to chase several men who were involved in a separate fight.

Police have maintained that they had not injured the students.(27)