6 dead in Jakarta riot over polls result

International Desk: Six people died in civil unrest that gripped parts of Jakarta on Tuesday night after the election commission confirmed that President Joko Widodo won last month's election, the governor of the Indonesian capital said.

Protests on Tuesday by supporters of Widodo's challenger for the presidency, former general Prabowo Subianto, started peacefully but turned violent in the evening, forcing police to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.

"As per 9 o'clock this morning, there were 200 people hurt being brought to five hospitals," Governor Anies Baswedan told broadcaster TVOne. "The number of people dead was six."

He said hospitals were conducting post-mortems to determine the cause of the deaths.

Hundreds of protesters were still locked in a tense stand-off with police in central Jakarta on Wednesday after a night of violence. Television footage showed smoke billowing from behind dozens of protesters in streets of the Tanah Abang district, with some throwing firecrackers and tearing down public fences.

A news agency reported that a small number of protesters had attempted to storm a nearby police station and were using tables as barricades.

Several office buildings and embassies in downtown Jakarta were closed on Wednesday, as were train stations in the area.

A separate crowd in front of the election supervisory body threw rocks and firecrackers at police around dawn, and dozens of chanting protesters joined them during the morning.

Hundreds of police in riot gear blocked the usually busy Sarinah intersection to hold back a crowd they said was expected to swell further in the afternoon.

Source: Agencies


risingbd/May 22, 2019/Mukul