Youths occupy legal aid office

BANDUNG (JP): Tens of youths from various youth groups under the umbrella of the former ruling Golkar Party occupied the West Java branch office of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) here on Monday.

Around 25 youths from Siliwangi Youth Generation (AMS), Kosgoro, AMPI, Pancasila Youth and KNPI (Indonesian Youth Committee) protested PBHI's defense of 21 suspected rioters.

The suspects, five of whom are members of the Democratic People's Party (PRD), are being held at West Java Police headquarters for their alleged involvement in incidents of civil unrest that followed a labor strike and a rally against fuel prices hike here two weeks ago.

PBHI told a media conference earlier the same day that it had urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to set up a human rights violation investigation committee in connection with the Bandung incident.

The protesters, clad in the uniforms of their respective organizations complete with bayonets, forced their way into the PBHI office and ransacked the room.

They tried to find documents containing PRD activities and took away some posters and pamphlets with them.

Police arrived at the location 30 minutes after the youths had left the PBHI office.

AMS chairman Joni Hidayat said that the action was meant to express their concern of the threat of violence in the city and his organization believed the recent rioting had been masterminded by the PRD. (25)