Regi Pratasyah Vasudewa, David Oliver Purba, Bogor – A number of protesters dressed in all black at the Kujang Monument, Bogor city, West Java, were arrested by the police on Wednesday evening October 28.
Based on Kompas.com's observations, initially the protesters held a demonstration by putting up a number of banners around the Kujang Monument. The banners read "Forest Burned People Abandoned", "The Land Belongs to the Ordinary People" and "Planting is Resisting".
Apart from putting up banners, the masses burned a number of water barriers and set off firecrackers in the Kujang Monument area.
At around 6.56 pm, the crowd began to form a line on Jalan Pajajaran to move back towards Jalan Cidangiang. As the crowd walked along Jalan Pajajaran, the police followed them from behind. Protesters also threw water bottles at police.
Upon arriving at the entrance to Jalan Cidangiang, right near the pedestrian bridge (JPO), a scuffle broke out between the protesters and police. A man in a white shirt was seen shoving one of the protesters who was carrying an umbrella. The action participants then responded by pushing back.
The pushing and shoving subsided for a moment but tensions resurfaced when a line of police wearing long-sleeved white shirts and black vests began to push the crowd back. The protesters also responded to this by pushing back.
A number of demonstrators then spread their hands to ask the line of officers to stop following them. "That's enough, enough, enough", said one of the demonstrators spreading their hands.
They then threw water bottles at the police line after which several officers from the police line chased the protesters onto Jalan Cidangiang.
A police officer wearing a vest with the words Bogor Polresta RAIMAS (Bogor Municipal Police Crowd Dispersal) was seen trying to arrest one of the action participants wearing all black. The participant managed to escape from the police officer and ran for about three meters before falling.
Another man wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt and black trousers then tried to catch the fallen participant. However, they managed to run again.
At the same location, two people dressed as Bogor Polresta RAIMAS arrested another protester who was wearing all black.
Meanwhile, police also arrested another demonstrator who was wearing all black near the pedestrian bridge. The action participant led to the pedestrian bridge while raising their hands.
Not long after, at around 7.14 pm, a Metropolitan.id video journalist was arrested by two officers in plain clothes. He was then asked to sit in the area near the pedestrian bridge.
Meanwhile, the protesters dressed all in black still remained near the exit from Botani Mall on Jalan Cidangiang. They asked that their arrested colleagues be released. "Free our friends", shouted the crowd in unison.
At 10.30 pm the crowd dispersed voluntarily.
Notes
On October 28, 1928, Indonesian students and youth gathered in Jakarta to declare the Youth Pledge – generally accepted as the first open declaration of Indonesian independence – which called for a united independent Indonesia under the theme of "One Nation, One People, One Language". It was the first time that a substantial body of anti-colonial activists committed themselves to an independent united nation with Malay as the national language.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Demo di Bogor Memanas, Sejumlah Demonstran Berbaju Hitam Ditangkap Polisi".]
