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Police arrest 14 people after clash with students
The Medan City Police arrested 14 people on Thursday thought to be involved in a clash between police officers and students from Nomensen HKBP University on Wednesday evening
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he Medan City Police arrested 14 people on Thursday thought to be involved in a clash between police officers and students from Nomensen HKBP University on Wednesday evening. There were no fatalities in the incident but dozens of students and police officers sustained injuries.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. gen. Wisjnu Amat Sastro said those arrested included university students and members of the public.
'Initial investigations reveals that three people can be named as suspects while the others will be released pending supporting evidence,' he said.
Hundreds of Nomensen HKBP University's students clashed with the police after a rumor was circulated that a student had died after being tortured by the police. The rumors surfaced after Juliansen Ginting, a student, was allegedly kicked by a police officer while he was on a motorcycle. Juliansen later died.
The students damaged a police post while the officers damaged five motorcycles owned by the students. Local residents joined the students in pelting police officers with stones; the police responded by shooting tear gas into the crowd.
The university canceled all activities on Thursday and students staged a rally in front of the Medan City Police headquarters demanding the release of their friends. One student, Kaban, said they demanded that the police were made accountable for their brutal behavior.
'We were just staging a rally protesting the police' anarchic actions but they turned brutal and shot at us,' Kaban said.
Wisjnu denied that his officers were brutal in handling the rally and the police had acted according to standard operational procedures. He also dispelled the rumor that a university student had died as a result of police torture.
'I watched a CCTV recording from the site. There is no [evidence of this],' he said, while promising to show the CCTV footage to the students.
Nomensen HKBP University vice rector I, Sihol Nababan, said it was not true that university student Juliansen had died after being tortured by the police, adding that the university had questioned Juliansen's friend, Natal Sigalingging, who was riding pillion with Juliansen.
'It was just a rumor circulated by irresponsible people,' Sihol said.
