STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST CALTEX
Date Reported: Friday, January 28, 2000
Incident Type: SECURITY
Country: PEKANBARU, INDONESIA Incident: The daily Jakarta Kompas has published two articles regarding a student demonstration that occurred against PT Caltex Pacific at Rumbai, just north of the Riau provincial capital of Pekanbaru. According to the accounts, hundreds of students from various institutions of higher learning in the province converged on the Caltex installation in mid-morning. They traveled to the site in chartered buses and upon arrival unveiled banners and placards denouncing President Abdurrachman Wahid ("Gus Dur") for his remarks in a speech in Padang (W. Sumatra). In those remarks, the Indonesian chief executive allegedly deprecated the Province of Riau and its separatist proclivities. The students subsequently managed to breach an outer perimeter of barbed wire, with the intention of occupying the offices of the oil firm. Local officials attempted to dissuade the students from occupying the premises to no avail. The students then threw rocks which shattered some windows in the Caltex office building. This ultimately led to a confrontation with the security forces, who beat back the students with a baton charge. At least five students were hurt in the fracas, and subsequently hospitalized. For the most part, the injuries suffered by the students consisted of bruises from blows caused by blunt objects. Following the riot, deployments of regular police, police mobile brigade, backed up by Indonesian military units insured the restoration of a fragile peace in the vicinity of the unrest. A general atmosphere of tension still prevailed, amid an expectation that the students would return and stage another demonstration to occupy the Caltex building. Security forces were blocking all roads into the area
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