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)