Yesterday, I said 285 people were being investigated. Now, only 87 of them have been named suspects.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta Metropolitan Police have named 87 persons as suspects for their alleged involvement in violent rallies against the job creation law in several places in the Indonesian capital on Thursday (October 8, 2020).



“Yesterday, I said 285 people were being investigated. Now, only 87 of them have been named suspects,” chief of the public relations section of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Senior Commissioner Yusri Yunus, said here on Saturday.



The police arrested 1,192 persons after protests against the omnibus law turned violent on Thursday. Of them, 285 were allegedly detained for committing criminal offenses.



Yunus said seven of the 87 suspects could face imprisonment of more than five years, if found guilty.



“Only seven (suspects) have been detained, why the other 80 have not? (This is) because the articles (charged against them) carry a penalty, depending on which articles (they have violated). Since the seven may be subject to more than five years' imprisonment, they have been detained," he added.



The seven suspects may be charged with violating Article 170 of the Penal Code, which pertains to resisting police personnel, he said.



Thursday’s arrests were made after demonstrators staging rallies against the job creation law reportedly resorted to violence and vandalized public facilities, including police post stations and official cars, he informed.



Nearly 50 percent of the demonstrators who have been detained are underaged students, he said adding, they will be released once their parents come to pick them up. They will also have to sign a written undertaking saying they will not repeat their wrongdoings, he continued.



The students have confessed to receiving online invitations to take part in the rallies for a sum of money, he said. (INE)

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Translator: Fianda Sjofjan R/Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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