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Students, journalists slam police use of force during student protests
The violence at the rally, believed to be the biggest student protest since 1998, left dozens of people injured and hundreds of others reportedly missing.
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Line of fire: A police officer aims a riot gun at protesters, mostly students of high schools, near the House of Representatives/People’s Consultative Assembly building in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
P
ublic advocacy groups in Jakarta received dozens of reports on Wednesday from victims and victims' family and friends about police use of force during student protests a day earlier.
Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) director Arif Maulana has condemned the measures used by National Police personnel against demonstrators outside the House of Representatives building in Jakarta on Tuesday, when thousands of university students from different campuses in Greater Jakarta protested against several controversial bills.
The violence at the rally, believed to be the biggest student protest since 1998, left dozens of people injured and hundreds of others reportedly missing.
Arif said his organization was having difficulty collecting data to identify the injured and missing protesters. “Some protesters are being detained at the Jakarta Police headquarters, some at the West Jakarta Police office; respectively 94 and 49 people,” Arif said on Wednesday.
“Not all of them are students. Some are ordinary citizens who were involved in the protest. So far we have identified 50 of them.”
Arif said that in conducting data collection and advocacy LBH Jakarta was collaborating with the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the People’s legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat), the Press Legal Aid Institute (LBH Pers), Lokataru advocacy group, Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) and the country’s second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah.
Besides being held in police custody, Arif said he believed some missing protesters were being treated in hospitals. He called on all hospitals taking care of injured protesters, particularly the Mintohardjo Hospital in Central Jakarta, to make its data publicly accessible.
