Hundreds of ethnic Flores people living in Batam, Riau Islands, took to the streets on Monday demanding a thorough investigation into the deaths of four children from their community.

The crowd, numbering some 300 people, forced their way into the Riau Islands Police Headquarters and demanded that police chief Brig. Gen. Yotje Mende resigned from his position due to his inability to solve the case. Yotje is currently in Jakarta.

The crowd initially gathered at the Cek Puan Market '€” where the four children were found dead in an abandoned car on Feb. 28 '€” the crowd then traveled en masse to the Batam, Rempang and Galang (Barelang) City Police Headquarters and later onto the Riau Islands Police Headquarters in Nongsa. The rally caused congestion and the
situation was tense.

When they arrived at the Riau Islands Police Headquarters, they were blocked by hundreds of traffic and riot police and told to carry out their rally in front of the entrance.

This request enraged the protesters who smashed the tightly guarded entrance until they were allowed to enter the compound.

The crowd then continued on to the Riau Islands Police Criminal and Intelligence Directorate building. A number of high ranking police officers watched the incident from a safe distance.

East Nusa Tenggara Family Forum (PK) leader Rofinus Loren said the Flores community in Batam was disappointed with the results of the children'€™s autopsies that the National Police Forensics Laboratory Center should have announced in early March.

'€œWithout an autopsy result, the Riau Islands Police chief announced that the children had died due to a loss of oxygen. Everyone dies from a lack of oxygen, but he did not mention why they ran out of oxygen. We know that the children were killed due to vengeance,'€ said Rofinus.

He said it was the duty of the police to uncover what happened so the families of the deceased would have answers.

'€œWe urge the National Police chief to dismiss chief Brig. Gen. Yotje Mende because many other police officials would be more competent in solving the case. We urge him to be immediately fired. He even didn'€™t dare to meet us,'€ said Rofinus. When contacted separately, Yotje decline to comment.

The rally was an accumulation of anger and doubts over the unsolved murder of the four children '€”who used to scavenge for scrap '€”found dead in a scrap car on the evening of Feb. 28.

The children, identified as Maria Magdalena Yelsan Fenge, 7; Yoseph Kosmas Ferson, 4; Wilhemus Rudi, 4; and Aprilius Ama Mado, 5; were reported missing by their parents on Feb. 27.

The Flores community believed the deaths were related to an ethnic clash that involved members of the Flores community and another ethnic group in Batam.

It is believed that the children were killed in revenge for the Flores group'€™s victory in past inter-ethnic violent incidents.

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