TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMedan residents stage rally demanding police guarantee against ‘begal’
Begal (street robbers) are getting bolder recently by harming their victims using sharp weapons in northern Medan area near the Belawan Port.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Two begal (street robbers) on a motorcycle attempt to snatch a distracted woman’s shopping bags as she checks her phone in this undated photo for illustrative purposes. (Shutterstock.com/Cat Box)
H
undreds of residents from north Medan staged a rally in front of the Belawan Port Police headquarters on Wednesday, to demand the police take action against begal (street robbers) who are increasingly resorting to violence.
The protesters, under the Belawan Community Accuses Alliance, said the robberies in Medan city, especially in the Belawan area on the coast, are causing significant concern over the use of knives and other sharp weapons that are injuring victims.
Anita, a housewife who took part in the rally, said she had recently been robbed on her way to a market in the Belawan area. She said she was thankful to have not been hurt in the incident, but the robbers still stole her purse and cash.
“I was traumatized, I am becoming afraid when I am going out alone. I’m afraid I will be robbed again,” she said on the sidelines of the rally.
Anita said she took part in the rally to demand better security guarantees from the police, as robberies were becoming rampant in Belawan.
“We live in fear, night and day. The begal are becoming more unnerving,” she said.
Read also: Batam court hands down life sentence to 10 ex-cops for selling meth
