Violence mars demos in Jakarta, Medan
Violence mars demos in Jakarta, Medan
JAKARTA (JP): Violence marred student demonstrations here and
in the North Sumatra capital of Medan yesterday, leaving dozens
of students injured and public property and some vehicles
damaged.
Jakarta witnessed a wave of student protests held
simultaneously in East, South and Central Jakarta. It took
traffic police hours to unravel the resulting heavy congestion in
many parts of the city.
The worst student demonstrations here yesterday occurred on
Jl. Pemuda, East Jakarta, in front of the northern entrance to
the state-run Jakarta Teachers' Training Institute (IKIP
Jakarta).
The rally started at 11:45 a.m. when some 2,000 students from
19 local universities gathered at the campus' north gate, where
security was still lax. They immediately went out, formed a line
and tried to march along the street.
They had been walking for only 50 meters when 300 security
officials, equipped with body shields and rattan batons and armed
with shotguns and tear gas canisters, arrived and blocked their
way.
Tension and jostling occurred when the riot police rejected
the students' request to continue their march to the nearby
Jakarta University.
The students then staged their protest on the street,
demanding the government's immediate response to calls for
political and economic reforms, and for efforts to bring down the
soaring prices of basic commodities.
Waving banners and posters critical of the government, the
students also called on President Soeharto to step down.
Dozens of students and two security officials were either
injured or collapsed after the students clashed with security at
about 1:30 p.m.
Six of the students were wounded by rubber bullets. They were
identified as Atin, Yeni Yuniani and Rina of IKIP Jakarta, Aria
Dewanto of Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy, Feri Sinorat of
Trisakti University and Aswin of Ibnu Chaldun University.
Atin, who was wounded on her forehead, Feri, who was wounded
on his left arm, and Yeni and Rina, who were both injured in the
stomach, were rushed to the nearby state Persahabatan Hospital,
while Aria was taken to St. Carolus Hospital in Salemba.
A photographer from Sinar weekly, Tutang Mukhtar, was beaten
by a security official when he took pictures of the incident. A
police officer grabbed a camera of a foreign photojournalist, who
also lost his cellular phone.
In Medan, student demonstrations were also simultaneously
staged in several parts of the North Sumatra capital.
At the private HKBP Nomensen University, Jl. Perintis
Kemerdekaan, hundreds of students removed a minivan from a car-
dealer shop and burned it.
A pickup and a sedan were also damaged because students threw
stones at them. The windows of several shops and restaurants, as
well as those of Sahid Angkasa Hotel, were smashed by stones
thrown by students.
Similar demonstrations were staged by the Teachers' Training
Institute of Medan, Sumatra Utara Islamic University,
Sisingamangaraja University, Sumatra Utara Muhammadiyah
University and the Kesatrian Computer Management Academy.
A number of students were arrested and questioned, including
five from the Teachers' Training Institute of Medan.
Medan police chief Lt. Col. Nono Priyono said those questioned
have all been released. (imn/edt/21)