Jakarta – Mob violence rocked two cities in the Indonesian provinces of Central Java and West Kalimantan, leaving a dozen people injured, including one with a gunshot wound, reports said here Thursday.
Hundreds of people, angered by the death of a man in police detention, attacked a police post in Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan late Tuesday, the Kompas daily said.
Six people were injured including two policemen when the mob armed with rifles, knives and machetes, attacked the police post after the death of a man being held on suspicion of theft, the daily said.
In Brebes, on the northern coast of Central Java, thousands of villagers from five hamlets fought on the main highway from late Monday until early Tuesday, the Suara Karya daily said.
One man was shot in the leg, as police attempted to disband the crowd and five were seriously injured during the brawl with slash wounds. The fighting apparently started over a dispute among youths over the management of a parking area, the daily said.
[On January 7, Associated Press reported that police fired plastic bullets at hundreds of stone-throwing youths in a Jakarta neighborhood. Three rioters and one policeman were injured and three police motorcycles were burned - James Balowski.]