Students warned against staging violent protests

JAKARTA (JP): Police warned students on Friday against conducting more violent protests following the ugly clashes which erupted on Thursday after the South Jakarta District Court dropped corruption charges against former president Soeharto.

"I warn them for the last time... I don't want anymore casualties. So don't push us around," Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Nurfaizi said at Jakarta Police headquarters during a meeting with city and military officials.

Nurfaizi said one person, a civilian, was killed in Thursday's incident but he did not give the victim's identity or the cause of the death.

He added that seven police officers were seriously injured.

Hospital records on Thursday also showed that more than 30 people were injured following the clashes involving pro- and anti-Soeharto supporters as well as the police.

As of Friday afternoon, 39 people were still in police custody in connection with the clashes, Nurfaizi said.

He stressed that the police would no longer be lenient with student protesters found to be carrying or using rocks, offensive weapons, or Molotov cocktails.

"In the past, we used to let them off with a warning. Not anymore," he said, stressing that those arrested would be prosecuted in court.

Friday's meeting to discuss ways of preventing or handling further violent rallies, was attended by deputy governor for administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi, Jakarta military chief of staff Brig. Gen. Lintang Waluyo, city councillors, ulemas, and mayors from five mayoralties.

Dozens of students from various universities held a peace rally at the Proclamation Monument in Central Jakarta on Friday condemning the violence of the previous day.

"We demand that our friends stop these mindless acts of violence at once," one student told the crowd.

Violent clashes between pro- and anti-Soeharto supporters first broke out near the Ministry of Agriculture complex in Ragunan, South Jakarta, where the Soeharto hearing was held on Thursday.

Later, they moved to the elite Menteng district in Central Jakarta as anti-Soeharto students tried to march on Soeharto's Jl. Cendana residence.

They were encouraged by the statement of President Abdurrahman Wahid who, speaking in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas a day earlier, said the police and military should not stop protesters from reaching Jl. Cendana.

Unable to penetrate the area because of the presence of thousands of Soeharto supporters and a police cordon, the students focused their protests on the intersection of Jl. Salemba and Jl. Diponegoro. The students, joined by local youths, began to check every passing vehicle, including public buses.

They were targeting military or police officers.

A man with crew cut hair in his 20's was beaten and kicked by the mob first inside a bus and then dragged into the street near St. Carolus hospital.

Those who did not beat him shouted: "Burn him! Burn him!"

The mob subsequently spared his life and he was sent to the emergency unit of the St. Carolus Hospital.

The mob also burned a military sedan. The fate of the driver and passenger was not immediately known.

A police officer on a motorbike was also dragged and beaten by the mob. They set his motorbike on fire and almost forced him into the blaze. Instead, he was also eventually sent him to the nearby hospital.

Some of the youths stayed until the early hours of Friday and only dispersed when police arrived and retook control of the area.

Menteng subprecinct police chief Asst. Supt. Paulus Waterpauw said on Friday that his men arrested eight protesters at the scene.

When asked why the police had not moved into the area quicker, Waterpauw said it was not a good idea.

"We couldn't come when the situation was still tense. My men could have lost their self-control and the result would have been disastrous," he told reporters. (jaw/dja/07)