Tear gas, water cannons used against Prabowo supporters

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Tear gas, water cannons used against Prabowo supporters

AFP

Local media reported that provocative speeches inciting violence were heard from some protesters ahead of the verdict.

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – Indonesian police used tear gas and water cannon on Thursday, August 21, to break up a rally by supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto outside the Constitutional Court, where judges were reading a lengthy verdict on the former general’s election challenge.

The protesters tried to force their way past lines of riot police and barbed wire blocking the road to the court, prompting officers to fire multiple volleys of tear gas and water cannon into the crowd.

Protesters tried to climb over the wire and drive through with trucks, and about 100 managed to get past the barricade before police started firing, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Some police chased supporters away and hit them with batons. It lasted only a few minutes and the crowd dispersed afterwards, although protesters started gathering at the same site again shortly afterwards.

“We warned them, but the demonstrators did not stop so we had to force them to disperse,” said Jakarta Police spokesman Rikwanto.

Three people were injured when the protesters were dispersed, and 4 have been arrested.


Local media reported that provocative speeches inciting violence were heard from some protesters ahead of the verdict.  

One protester raised questions over the court’s legitimacy and said “supporters will force their way into the court building” if it ruled against them, Tempo reported.

Another called on the people to attack the US embassy and other foreign-owned buildings if the court’s decision was “unfair”, Kompas reported. 

In the past, Prabowo’s camp has made public pronouncements against violence, but there were no similar calls this time. “If we tell them not to take action, then what will happen is a fake reconciliation [with Jokowi]. These people may get frustrated and they could explode at any time,” one of Prabowo’s lawyers, Habiburokhman, said according to the Jakarta Post.

In front of thousands of supporters in Bandung on Tuesday, August 19, Prabowo addressed supporters who he said were weeping over his loss on July 9.

“Don’t cry, this struggle is just beginning,” he said, insisting they will eventually win and asking them to be ready to prepare “field kitchens”.

Political analyst Dodi Ambardi doubts there will be widespread chaos.

“It could be ugly if Prabowo gives an order to his supporters to fight security forces. However, the security forces have been prepared to handle the situation. So if there is a clash between the two, it would be limited in the area of the Constitutional Court. I don’t think that it will spread out the city, let alone the archipelago,” he told Rappler.

The lengthy verdict, the reading of which could take several hours, is widely expected to reject to Prabowo’s challenge.

It comes a month after the General Elections Commission (KPU) declared Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and running mate Jusuf Kalla the winners of the divisive presidential election with 53.15% of the votes cast, with an 8.4 million lead over Prabowo and his running mate Hatta Rajasa.

Prabowo rejected those results, claiming “massive, systemic and structural” fraud, but analysts say his camp had a hard time proving this in court. (READ: Prabowo’s weak suit)

“They are going to throw out the suit,” said Tobias Basuki, a political analyst from Jakarta-based think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that the evidence was “very weak.” – with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

 

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