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Pandemic pretext for police repression: Kontras
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A protester sits on a road as police-fired tear gas obscures the scene behind him during a demonstration against the Job Creation Law in Harmoni, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 8, 2020. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
R
ights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has criticized the National Police for brutality and digital repression in a report released on Wednesday, a day before Bhayangkara Day, on which the police commemorated their 75th anniversary.
The report found that the police had used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to suppress civil liberties and employ repressive measures, including while dispersing demonstrators. The findings were based on the group's monitoring and advocacy data from June 2020 to May of this year.
"They used the pandemic as a pretext mainly applied to demonstration disbandment and arbitrary arrests. It is worsening Indonesian democracy,” Kontras researcher Rozy Brilian Sodik said during a press conference on Wednesday. "The most arrests were during the demonstrations [against the Job Creation Law] in October 2020.”
The Kontras report found at least 651 cases of violence perpetrated by the police against civilians nationwide, including the use of firearms in violation of procedure and arbitrary arrests.
Read also: Persistent police violence highlights 'ingrained' combative culture, training, activists say
“At the regional and police precinct level, the most common forms of violence are shootings. This has resulted in 13 deaths and 98 people injured," Rozy said.
He suspected that the high number of victims was a consequence of the excessive use of force by the police and arbitrary action amid a lack of proper evaluation of police firearm use.
