Students seek refuge after brawl

Students seek refuge after brawl

MEDAN, North Sumatra: At least 200 students of the Catholic
University of St. Thomas here started seeking refuge at the
provincial legislative council building on Tuesday for fear that
residents living around their campus would attack their boarding
houses. This followed a two-day fierce brawl between them in
which 60 students were rushed to hospital with injuries.

The students said they felt unsafe staying at the boarding
houses, which are located around the campus. They also criticized
the campus management's decision to close the campus for one week
following the bloody clash.

Chairman of Students Council Bernas Nababan told The Jakarta
Post on Tuesday that the students had no other place that was
secure from intimidation by local residents, who had been
searching for them in the vicinity of the campus since Sunday.

"We reported to the Medan Police about our being here and the
police chief agreed."

The brawl, which erupted on Friday night, was initiated by the
residents' anger at the students, whom they accused of having
extorted a street vendor.

Some students acknowledged that the brawl had been triggered
by some of their number. "Six students refused to pay completely
for the meal they had eaten at a roadside stall. The stall owner
became angry and hit one of the students, unconfirmed reports
said. That happened on Friday night," said a student who asked to
remain anonymous. "The stall owner was usually very tolerant of
the students when they were unable to pay completely for their
meal. But on Friday night he got very angry, although the
students owed him only Rp 3,000."

Meanwhile, police were still on alert on Tuesday at the
campus, whose buildings housing the Law, Technical and Literature
schools, which were partly damaged.

There was no reports on how the university had approached the
residents to make peace. (42/sur)