Budi Hartadi, Surabaya – Although the South Sulawesi chief of police has been dismissed, actions condemning police violence at the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) in Makassar continue. In an action on Tuesday May 4, calls for Indonesian police chief Da’i Bachtiar to resign form his post continued to grow.

The demands for Bachtiar’s resignation was made by around 100 activists from the Student Executive Council of the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) in Surabaya in front of the East Java police headquarters on Jalan Ahmad Yani. Similar demands were voiced in student actions in other parts of the country.

At the Surabaya action, students demanded to meet with the East Java chief of police, Inspector General Firman Gani. Gani was only prepared to meet with 50 IAIN students while the PRD was refused permission to enter on the grounds that the organisation does not represent students.

Students called for the police to fully investigate the UMI case [where scores of students were wounded when police stormed their campus on May 1]. The also called on the chief of police to issue a written statement apologizing for the incident. Students also called for Bachtiar to resign from his post.

Gani promised to relate the student’s demands to Bachtiar and stated that he would be prepared to resign from his post if a case of this kind occurred in East Java. (iy)

[Translated by James Balowski.]