Wardah questioned over illegal rally

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) Wardah Hafidz, and an activist from the Philippines, Ted Anyana, were brought to the City Police Headquarters on Thursday evening for questioning in connection with the continuing rally by dozens of illegal squatters at the City Council compound.

An UPC staff member, told The Jakarta Post that his boss and their fellow activist were taken from the compound by some police officers at around 6 p.m. without any clear reason.

"We still have no idea the reason for their arrest. The arrest was made when our fellow activist from the Philippines, Ted Anyana, was addressing the crowd," Budi said.

As reported earlier, the squatters, who were forcibly removed on Monday from their shanties at the Karang Anyar subdistrict, Central Jakarta, have staged a long protest at the City Council since the same day.

There seems to be no clear solution to the problem as the authorities insisted that shanty dwellers had been illegal occupying the land.(dja)