Mahfudz Jufri, Palu – Hundreds of people from the National Police Crisis Center for Violence against Women and Children (CC-Kapak) held a protest action commemorating International Women’s Day on Thursday March 8. During the action, they presented a gift of 500 underpants to Central Sulawesi police chief Brigadier General Dewa Parsana.

The demonstration began with a long-march through the major thoroughfares of Palu city followed by an action at the Palu municipal police headquarters on Jl. Pemuda in the sub-district of East Palu. After giving speeches for around half-an-hour, they then marched to the Central Sulawesi municipal police headquarters on Jl. Sam Ratulangi, also in East Palu.

There, the demonstrators were received by public information chief Police Commander Rostin and Palu District Police operational division chief Police Commander Sutrisno. “The chief of police cannot attend because there’s a meeting, so Mr Sutrisno and I are here to represent him”, said Rostin.

Shouts of anger ensued. A parcel contained 500 women’s underpants with the words “To the honorable Mr Central Sulawesi Police Chief” was then handed over to Rostin and Sutrisno. In addition to those enclosed in the parcel, underpants of various colours were also hung from pieces of string.

Action coordinator Nurlela Lamasitudju said that the police often take cases of petty crimes to court. But when victims are women and children, “Strangely the cases are not acted upon”, said Lamasitudju.

The protesters called on Parsana and Palu police chief Ahmad Ramadhan to be sacked. After handing over the parcel of underpants and giving speeches, the demonstrators disbanded in an orderly fashion. (try/nrl)

[Hari Perempuan Internasional, Kapolda Sulteng Dihadiahi 500 Celana Dalam – DetikNews. Kamis, 08/03/2012. Translated by James Balowski.]