Villagers attack immigration center in Gunung Putri
Villagers attack immigration center in Gunung Putri
BOGOR (JP): Locals attacked an immigration center housing 150
illegal immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan on
Thursday night, following the alleged assault of three locals by
six foreigners.
Dayat, a villager, said on Friday that at about 9:15 p.m. on
Thursday, Yanto and two of his friends were near the Palar
immigration center, located in Tlajung Udik village, Gunung Putri
district, Bogor, when six immigrants -- Maswan, Sangat, Assow,
Musnab, Anas and Abidin -- passed by.
The locals greeted them, but the foreigners, who do not speak
Indonesian, misunderstood and hit the three villagers, according
to Dayat.
Yanto screamed for help, at which people in the neighborhood
gathered to lend a hand.
Upon seeing so many villagers approaching, the six immigrants
fled and returned to the center.
The angry locals then threw stones at the building, breaking
the windows. They later dispersed after the police arrived and
fired warning shots.
Dayat said the villagers had long resented the immigrants in
the center because they often yelled and screamed, and that it
also upset locals to see male foreigners occasionally take women,
assumed to be prostitutes, into the center.
"They also often bother local girls," Dayat said.
Gunung Putri Police chief Insp. Poniman confirmed that the
villagers had been involved in a fight with people staying at the
immigration center.
He also confirmed that the police had fired warning shots to
disperse the crowd. The situation began to calm down at about 11
p.m., he said.
Poniman said the illegal immigrants were under the supervision
of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), which is processing their applications for
refugee status.
On Friday, he said, the villagers held a meeting with local
public figures and UNHCR officials in a hall in Gunung Putri
district. During the meeting, locals demanded that the immigrants
be relocated to another area.
Separately, head of the Bogor immigration office, Amirull CH,
accompanied by Yusron from the immigration control unit, said
that UNHCR should be held responsible for the attack.
He said that the immigrants had been sent to Bogor from
Kupang, Ujung Pandang, Irian, Karimun island and Tanjung Pinang.
The foreigners' misconduct had annoyed villagers, adding that
angry residents had tried to burn down the center last year, he
said.
Earlier reports said that a total of 1,558 foreigners
illegally have entered Indonesia since early last year in hopes
of reaching a third country. (21)