Students rally to protest police brutality

Students rally to protest police brutality

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of students across the country hit the streets on
Tuesday to condemn a brutal police attack against university
students over the weekend in the South Sulawesi capital of
Makassar.

Sixty-five students of the Muslim University of Indonesia
(UMI) were injured in Saturday's attack. Police entered the
university campus after the students took a traffic policeman
hostage in the campus and beat another officer in the street
during two separate rallies.

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar fired three top
police officers following the incident on Saturday. They were
Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Jose Rizal Effendi, East Makassar
Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Suprianto and Panakukang Police
chief Adj. Comr. Namora Simanjuntak. On Monday Da'i also fired
Insp. Gen. Jusuf Manggabarani, chief of South Sulawesi Provincial
Police.

In Makassar, thousands of students from several universities
in the city staged street rallies. The students visited several
places during the rallies, including UMI, Karebosi park, the East
Makassar Police precinct and the official residence of the South
Sulawesi Police chief.

A member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) Achmad Ali, said that he would bring up the case to the
commission plenary meeting to decide if an investigating team was
required.

"I come here to collect information and I would suggest that
the plenary meeting set up a fact-finding team for the case," he
said after visiting the UMI campus where blood stains were still
visible.

UMI Rector Nasis Hamzah said that the university had
identified the student who allegedly took the policeman hostage.

If found guilty, the student would possibly be expelled from
the university, he said.

South Sulawesi Governor Amin Syam was quoted by Antara as
saying that the police who attacked the students "were out of
control".

Despite the protests, security in Makassar remained under
control, South Sulawesi Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Andi Nurman
Thahir said.

He admitted that the students outnumbered police personnel
deployed to prevent any possible incident during Saturday's
rally.

"We don't want more clashes between students and the police,"
he said.

In the Central Sulawesi town of Palu, some 3,000 students
staged a rally outside the Central Sulawesi Police station to
protest the attack.

Later, they threw rocks at the station and nearby legislative
council after the police refused to meet them. But, the police
on duty were not provoked.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha said he
had instructed his subordinates to remain calm despite a possible
backlash from the students.

Students in the Southeast Sulawesi capital of Kendari showed
their solidarity for their fellow students in Makassar by
demonstrating in the city.

A clash almost broke out between the hundreds of students who
joined the rally and several people the students took for
policemen. The students threw rocks at policemen who were on
duty.

In the West Java city of Bandung, hundreds of students from 22
youth organizations grouped under the Antimilitarism Solidarity,
blockaded several roads on Tuesday morning, creating a heavy
traffic jam in the northern part of the city.

They gave speeches, burned tires and military uniforms. The
protests ended peacefully.

In Jakarta, a number of groups of students visited to the
National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta to condemn the
attack and demanded that the National Police chief step down.
Some of them later held a protest at Hotel Indonesia traffic
circle.

In Semarang and Yogyakarta hundreds of students held similar
rallies, condemning the attack and demanding that Da'i step down.

In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, hundreds of students
held street rallies while urging Komnas HAM to investigate the
case.