Twenty people injured in Idul Fitri brawl

PURBALINGGA, Central Java (JP): At least 20 people were wounded, five of them from gunshots, when some 1,000 people from two villages in Purbalingga regency, were involved in a fierce brawl on Thursday, the sixth in the last two years.

At least five houses were totally destroyed and many others were partially ravaged, and three shops were looted in the brutal actions on the second day of Idul Fitri.

Purbalingga Police chief Supt. Sukamto Handoko said that police had to disperse the crowd with gunshots when the looters started to set ablaze the goods they stole from the shops and ignored warning shots.

Sukamto confirmed that five people were shot in the leg.

Most of the residents involved in the brawl were villagers who worked in Jakarta and were spending the Idul Fitri holidays at home, said Sukamto.

The brawl was triggered by a heated argument between a group of teenagers from Bantarbarang village and the porter of the Jendral Sudirman Monument tourist site.

"It was on Wednesday when the five teenagers, without any tickets, asked Rubito, the porter, to let them in. The teenagers refused to buy entrance tickets and threatened to beat Rubito," officer Sukamto said, quoting Rubito.

Irritated, Rubito went home, asking some fellow villagers to seek the five teenagers in the area. Fighting erupted, but local security officers managed to separate them.

On Thursday, a large number of people from Karangjati marched to Bantarbarang, where another group of hundreds of people were waiting. They all carried sharp weapons to face their "enemies".

A brutal brawl erupted. Five houses were totally ravaged while many others were partially destroyed.

Three platoons of Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) arrived when the two groups of villagers were beating and stabbing each other.

"They ignored the police's warning shots and kept fighting until the officers fired shots at them directly, injuring five of them," Sukamto said, adding that the mob dispersed soon after five of them were shot.

Police records indicate that the two villages had developed emnity two years ago, and five brawls have previously taken place.

"As many as 81 people, all Bantarbarang residents, were arrested. Most of them were villagers who worked in Jakarta and were in their home towns to celebrate Idul Fitri," he said, adding that 35 machetes, swords, axes and sickles were confiscated from them.

"The people are now held at the Police Office hall under tight security because the Police cell can only hold 50 people, while there are now 60 people in the cell. How can we add another 81?" (45/sur)