"Instead of using their bare hands or pepper spray to disperse the crowd, police officers used their guns," Nurkholis, vice chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said here on Tuesday.
The clash in Bima happened after police took action to disperse demonstrators blocking the ferry port in Sape. The people staged the demonstration to demand the revocation of a mining permit issued by the district head to PT Sumber Mineral Nusantara.
Nurkholis said according to National Police Regulation Number 1/2009 article 5 paragraph 1, in facing a protest rally, police must take five steps first before deciding to use their fire arms. The five steps were striving to avoid a clash, directly ordering the protesters to calm down, using their bare hands, using pepper spray or tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Nurkholis said according to the results of an investigation conducted by Komnas-HAM including viewing video recordings of the clash and taking statements from witnesses, the police at the time did not implement the regulation properly.
Meanwhile, Chairman of investigation team for Bima clash Ridha Saleh said the video tape showed the police using gunfire to repel the protesters. In fact, he said, in the video some policemen were seen collecting the already used bullets and putting them in their pockets so as to erase all possible evidence of their violence.
"The video also showed some policemen beating up protesters who were already in defenseless position," he said.
Ridha added the repressive acts committed by police in the Bima clash were against existing internal police rules because all the protesters at the time obeyed the police`s instructions and did not offer any resistance.
"The police attacked protesters, beat them up and kicked them," he said.
Three people were killed and 30 others injured by police fire in the Dec 24 clash.
"Ten among the 30 injured people were children aged 13 to 17 years old," Ridha said.
Earlier, the head of the National Police Headquarters` public relations division, Insp Gen Saud Usman Nasution, had said three police officers proved to have committed physical violence against local residents during a clash with demonstrators in Bima.
"According to the results of an internal investigation by the General Supervision Inspectorate (Irwasum) and the Professionalism and Security Division (Propam), three officers committed physical violence against the people," he said.
Therefore, the three officers, namely Second Brigadier F, First Brigadier S and First Brigadier F would be arraigned in a police disciplinary committee session, he said.
He said two people were hit and kicked by officers from the Bima resort police station, he said.
He said if during the disciplinary committee session, the three officers proved to have committed other criminal offenses, they would be given matching sanctions.
A total of 115 police officers in West Nusa Tenggara were questioned by a team from the National Police Headquarters following the clash in which two people died and a dozen of others were wounded.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
