Police Urged to Reveal Data on Parliament Protest Arrests

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Police (Polri) are urged to reveal the actual identities of the people who are currently still under arrest following the students’ protests at the end of September at the House of Representatives (DPR). 

The protests were mostly participated by university students that demanded the strengthening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and rejected a number of arguably troublesome draft bills. 

“We highly urge the National Police to reveal the identities of the demonstrators who fell victim to police brutality, arrests, and disappearances,” said Natado Putrawan from the university students’ alliance dubbed Border Rakyat (People's Border) at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) headquarters in Central Jakarta on Sunday. 

Natado pressed the police to comply with their demand as it was important for those who were apprehended to receive legal assistance. The same demand was voiced by a mothers’ group dubbed Solidaritas Emak-emak [mothers' solidarity] on Sunday’s protest held in front of the Jakarta Police headquarters. 

To this day, the Jakarta Police have yet to reveal the identities of those arrested during the demonstrations in the vicinity of the DPR building. The Jakarta Police only announced they had named 380 people as suspects in the demonstrations that turned violent at the DPR area.

Of the figure, 179 were in custody and four of them were students and college students. There has been no further detail as to their identities. 

ANTARA