Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – A clash with police has resulted in 10 students being wounded. The victims were seen to be bleeding. Meanwhile around 30 students were arrested by police.

The clash occurred at 3.30pm on Thursday February 12 when students attacked police lines. However police drove the students back aggressively, even though the head of the local police, Sukrawardi Dahlan, had asked police officers not to hit people.

From observations by journalists, the police were seen to chase and beat students with batons. They also hit them with their fists and even trampled on students who had fallen to the ground.

Following the incident, around 30 students were taken away by police and placed in a police vehicle located near the scene.

Meanwhile those who had been wounded were evacuated and treated on the sidewalk of Jl Medan Merdeka Utara by a medial team from the University of Indonesia. The number of wounded was around 10.

A number of them appeared to have suffered head wounds and were bleeding. Several other students appeared to be bleeding from the face wounds.

By 3.46pm, students were sill “cooling down” and had withdrawn some 30 meters from the scene of the clash. The head of the local police was also pleading with his subordinates not to be provoked.

The students attacked police lines after they heard information that confirmed that the Supreme Court had freed [Golkar Party chairperson] Akbar Tandjung Tandjung [of corruption charges]. The panel of judges however, were in fact still reading Akbar Tandjung’s verdict. (asy)

[Translated by James Balowski.]