Jakarta – The South Sulawesi Police will form a joint team to investigate the assault of several journalists who were allegedly beaten by police personnel during a raid at Makassar State University (UNM) on Thursday.

"We will form a joint team to investigate the case and we expect that there will be journalists in the team so that they can monitor the investigation process," said South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Anton Setiadji in Makassar on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that the police were still waiting for a report from the journalists regarding the case. "We hope that the journalists can help the investigation process and be involved in the fact-finding team. I apologize for yesterday's incident. I am ready to take responsibility and ready to be fired," he added.

On Thursday, the police raided the UNM campus after a clash occurred between students and police officers when the students blocked a road during a rally to protest the government's plan to increase subsidized-fuel prices.

During the clash, Makassar City Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Totok Lisdianto was shot in the right armpit with an arrow.

The incident started when the police commandeered a memory card from a camera belonging to a photographer from the Koran Tempo newspaper, Iqbal Lubis, who wanted to take pictures of the raid.

The police officers also allegedly assaulted Metro TV correspondent Vincent Waldy with their shields when he was trying to prevent the officers from confiscating Iqbal's memory card, causing a wound to Vincent's left temple.

Another journalist who was allegedly assaulted by the police was Ikrar from Celebes TV.

Antara news agency reported that based on the testimony of several witnesses, the police officers who assaulted the journalists were heard shouting "kill the journalists!" (ask/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/14/police-expect-journalists-join-investigation-team.html