Palembang – The LBH (Institute for Legal Aid) regional offices in Palembang were attacked at 1 PM today (26/2) by a group of unknown assailants. Stones and bottles of beer were thrown, causing some damage to the facilities, mostly broken windows. The LBH's director in Palembang told Kompas that " LBH in Palembang has been releasing very critical statements about the locality's record on human rights, democracy, the environment and politics in general." He added that "We don't know who is responsible for today's attack but there is no doubt that it comes in the wake of our activities. It could well be that it is someone who was angered by a recent court ruling in a case brought forward by LBH."

Two LBH employees in Palembang see a link between today's events and the covert terror tactics that have been occurring over the past two weeks. For instance, last week someone dumped trash and human faeces in the LBH front yard. Only a couple of days ago a dead rat inside a plastic bag was thrown against a window on the ground floor. When asked why the LBH had not reported these events to the police, the LBH employees said they did not think the problems were serious enough to warrant a police report.

YLBHI under watch

Meanwhile, the YLBHI's headquarters in Jakarta are being guarded by the police in full riot gear. Several trucks were parked in the vicinity of the YLBHI offices. The chairman of YLBHI's board of advisors, Bambang Widjojanto, was asked by reporters to confirm whether this concentration of police forces could be linked to the fact that members of the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI) and the outlawed trade-union SBSI have recently sought refuge and protection at the YLBHI's headquarters. "They came into our offices because they believe they have been put under surveillance by the authorities," said Widjojanto. "I don't know what their intentions are, whether they are thinking of staging a demonstration. What is certain, is that there is an increasing concentration of security forces outside our offices."

According to a lawyer working for the YLBHI, they tried to discuss the situation with those people who alleged to be members of the security forces, but the latter refused to show their identifications and hence the lawyers decided to stop the talks. In response, the security forces decided to retreat from the immediate vicinity of the YLBHI offices.