Jakarta – The National Police announced new crowd control guidelines Wednesday that would allow officers to fire real bullets to halt riots.
"This new procedure will wipe out doubts for officers about whether they're allowed to use real bullets when facing chaotic crowds," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paulus Purwoko said in Cikeas, Bogor.
He added that the use of real bullets was the last resort for police and would be allowed only when situations became highly dangerous, threatening their lives and the lives of others.
Police have identified three stages of a protest rally. The first, called the green stage, is when protesters demonstrate in an orderly manner. Officers are not allowed to use any weapons at this stage.
The second, or yellow stage, is when protesters start to use physical force, such as kicking and hitting officers. Police may use clubs to subdue them.
The third stage involves violence that could be life-threatening, such as burning buildings and throwing stones. In this situation, officers are allowed to use bullets, starting with firing blanks into the air three times as a warning, then progressing to rubber bullets, and then to live ones. "Even throwing stones can threaten an officer's life, as in the case of Abepura clash," said Purwoko.
Four police officers and one Army officer were killed by head injuries from thrown stones during a demonstration in front of Cendrawasih University in Abepura, Papua province, on March 16.
In Jakarta, the director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, Usman Hamid, said the new crowd control procedures did not mark a radical departure from previous policies.
"Basically, there is nothing really new. I think there's no problem with the newly issued procedures as long as they're in line with the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Officers released by the United Nations in 1990," said Usman.
The co-chair of the ASEAN regional team on human rights mechanisms, Marzuki Darusman, said from a human rights point of view, the procedures protected the lives of officers as well as the public during violent protests.