Jakarta Police bust street fighters, speed racers in Ramadhan crackdown
Iman Mahditama, The Jakarta Post | Jakarta | Tue, August 07 2012, 8:21 PM
The police say they have broken up eight street races and ten brawls in a crackdown timed to coincide with the fasting month of Ramadhan.
“Most of the brawls were caused by trivial matters. Two groups of residents met on the street and taunted each other. Some of them got angry over it and they began to attack one another,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Tuesday.
Borders areas between Jakarta and Tangerang, Bekasi, and Depok were the most common spots for the street brawls, he said.
Meanwhile, the cops have stopped the city’s fast and furious from racing on favorite thoroughfare such as Jl. Asia Afrika and Jl. Benyamin Sueb, Central Jakarta; Jl. Pemuda, East Jakarta; and Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta, according to the police.
Rikwanto said that the police had deployed an additional 100 officers to patrol Greater Jakarta to deter brawls and drag racers.
Meanwhile, the South Jakarta Police have arrested the perpetrators of two separate brawls over the last few days.
Officers from the Pesanggrahan precinct arrested a high school student, AM, on Tuesday, for allegedly killing another student, JH, during a brawl between two high schools on Jl. Taman Barat in Bintaro on Monday.
Separately, officers from the Tebet precinct arrested a vocational school student identified as OL, 17, on Tuesday, for allegedly brandishing a sword in brawl between residents of Jl. Sawo and Jl. Manggis on Sunday night.
