We find that their actions were purely criminal."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Police have arrested and are questioning 25 people suspected to be provocateurs and looters in connection with the rioting that happened after the end of the peaceful demonstration on Friday (Nov. 4).
"Ten people are being questioned as alleged provocateurs on Medan Merdeka Barat Street," Inspector General Boy Rafli Amar, head of public relations division of Indonesia Police, said at a press conference here on Saturday.
The suspects aged between 16 and 31 years old have been confirmed to have come from various regions outside the city in Java as well as West Nusa Tenggara.
Boy said the police has also arrested 15 people for looting a mini-market in Luar Batang, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, by utilizing the benefit of momentum of the demonstration.
"We find that their actions were purely criminal. Certainly, there must be the mastermind that had mobilized them. Their motive certainly was not demonstration but going to the jail," he said.
The people, who are residents of the fishing neighborhoods in Muara Baru, have been confirmed as not being part of Islamic organizations that conducted the demonstration at Monas (National Monument) and Merdeka Palace.
They have spontaneously been motivated to commit the crime after seeing rioting in Monas and Merdeka Palace through the media.
Boy said their legal status will be determined within 24 hours.
Hundreds of thousands of people from various Islamic organizations staged a demonstration peacefully on Friday, but some refused to disperse after the deadline for the demonstration ended at 6pm, and after an agreement had been reached between the government and representatives of the demonstrators.
These people attacked the police by pelting stones and pieces of wood and also burned their cars. The police responded by firing teargas in an effort to disperse them.
The demonstrators demanded acceleration of the police investigation to determine the legal status of Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok as he is called, with regard to the blasphemous remark he had allegedly made at a meeting with people in Kepulauan Seribu, North Jakarta, recently.
Ahok, who is contesting for the Jakarta gubernatorial election in February next year, had offered an apology for the remark, while the police have also already starting questioning witnesses.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed his regret over the clash after the demonstration in front of the Merdeka Palace here on Friday began dispersing at around 7:00 pm local time.
"We deplore the incident after the Isha (evening prayer), which should have been dispersed but turned violent. We have seen that it has been exploited by political actors who made use of the situation," Jokowi said at a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta early on Saturday.
(Reported by Yashinta Difa/Uu.H-YH/INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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