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Police warn of violent groups after Jakarta riots
The National Police have warned that the street protests might present a major threat to the capital’s security.
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Police fire tear gas to protesters during a riot in front of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) headquarters in Jakarta on May 22. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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major street protest is expected to hit the capital on Friday as supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto are set to join him in filing a lawsuit to challenge the election result at the Constitutional Court.
The rally is expected to be the peak of a string of protests and deadly riots that have gripped the city ever since the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced the victory of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The National Police have warned that the street protests might present a major threat to the capital’s security, after discovering that some of the suspected rioters arrested over the past two days may be linked with terrorist organizations.
Two among hundreds of people detained by the police for rioting since Tuesday were found to be affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) terror group and had intended to launch a terror attack amid the protests, National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. M. Iqbal said on Thursday.
The police, he said, had also identified another three suspected rioters in possession of firearms, including short and long rifles, who had intended to cause riots by carrying out shootings and making it seem as if the shots were fired by security personnel to turn the public against the authorities.
“These are [two] different groups,” Iqbal said, “There are many groups that have the intention of taking advantage of the demonstrations, that’s why we have made calls since the very start for people not to participate [in the rallies].”
The two alleged IS supporters, who came from outside Jakarta, were allegedly linked to the hard-line Islamic Reformist Movement (Garis), which in the past had expressed support for the IS movement and sent its members to fight in Syria, Iqbal said.
