"Today we have sent 200 police personnel from Makassar to Ambon because Makassar is geographically near to Maluku," Police Spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said here on Sunday.
He said that police, military, the governor, community leaders and religious leaders in Ambon have been coordinated to help calm down the situation after the outbreak of the conflict.
" The clashes were triggered by rumors that a victim named Darmin Saiman has been tortured to death where as in fact he died of a traffic accident," Anton said.
He said that Darmin had a traffic accident in Gunung Nona area, Nusaniwe subdistrict on Saturday night and was helped by the Tatuhey family who took the victim to a hospital, but the victim died on the way.
He said that the communal clashes first broke out in the Mangga Dua area after the Darmin`s funeral services. The waring parties involved in throwing with each other. They set fires on four motorcycles and one car.
The clash later spread to several locations such as the Tanah Lapang Kecil and the Trikora crossroad areas where residents exchanged throwing.
To anticipate undesired developments, police and military personnel had been deployed to separate the waring parties in the locations where they fired warning shots, he said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
