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'I hope there’s justice for Markus': Girlfriend talks about alleged victim of May 22 riots
Police said all suspected rioters being treated at Kramat Jati Police Hospital could not be visited by their families.
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A video showing a group of police officers beating an unarmed man near Al-Huda Mosque in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, has been circulating online in recent days, fueling allegations that police have used excessive force in handling the protest against the result of the April 17 presidential election. (JP/File)
D
ewi (not her real name) looked distraught on Thursday afternoon at Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East Jakarta. She had been going back and forth to the hospital for two days in a row to check on her boyfriend’s health, albeit only through a glass window.
“I am not allowed to visit [my boyfriend] Markus because he is suspected of having attacked security personnel during the May 21 and 22 riots,” Dewi told The Jakarta Post recently, referring to riots that broke out in Jakarta shortly after the General Elections Commission announced the result of the presidential election.
Thousands of supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto took to the streets to challenge the result, which was announced in the early hours of May 21. The peaceful rally turned violent on May 22 as some protesters purportedly set fires to a police dormitory and several vehicles. They also threw stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces.
A police officer looking after Markus at in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital told Dewi that she had to gain permission from his supervisor before seeing her boyfriend.
Dewi then caught a glimpse of Markus through a glass window of the ICU. His body was attached to an intravenous catheter. She was not sure whether Markus knew she was there.
“I still come here every day even though I can only see him through a glass window,” Dewi said, sobbing. She went to the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta to gain permission to see him, but to no avail.
The officer, according to Dewi, said the family members of accused rioters did not have visitation rights.
