Fight In Jatinegara, Street Vendors Looted

A trader shows a cart damaged because it was looted after a brawl in Cipinang Besar Utara, Jatinegara, East Jakarta. (Andi Firdaus / Antara)

JAKARTA - Perpetrators of brawl in the Cipinang Besar Utara area, Jatinegara, East Jakarta, looted merchandise belonging to street vendors and damaged the office of the local RW management, Friday, December 11 evening.

"The brawl was around 21.45 WIB. The incident last night was even worse because there was looting of the fried rice mason. Not only was his cart damaged, money and a basket of rice were also taken away," said witness to the incident, Abdul Jamar, in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Saturday, December 12th.

The incident took place at Jalan Bekasi Timur 4 RW04 Cipinang Besar Utara involving two groups of residents who were suspected of being residents outside the local area.

Jamar said the number of brawlers was in the tens, each of whom equipped himself with various sharp weapons such as sickles and machetes.

"They are all foreign residents. I know because we do not recognize their faces. They came in a microbus ready with weapons and wearing helmets," he said.

The clash of the two groups of residents was recorded through a surveillance camera (CCTV) belonging to one of the residents which then went viral in the mass media.

The mob targeted the RW04 office by destroying the glass section and damaged several roofs.

Then the mob moved down the road while destroying carts belonging to traders from the streets of local residents.

The cause of the incident was not yet known, but Jamar confirmed that attacks from an unknown group were frequent in the area.

"Last night was the worst incident because the material loss was not bad," he said.

Meanwhile the Chairman of RW04 Afrizal confirmed that there were no injuries or deaths in the incident.

"The incident took place suddenly. At that time there were still many residents who were active. But it is difficult for me to check that there were no victims except the damage," he said.

This incident was in the intensive handling of the Jatinegara Police, East Jakarta. A number of police are still on guard at the scene of the incident in anticipation of a similar incident occurring.