155 Protesters In 1812 Protected By Police, Korlap: I Will Help Free

The period of action in 1812 that was disbanded by the police (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Field coordinator (Korlap) for the 1812 action, Rijal Kobar, admitted that he would help free a number of protesters who were arrested by the police. However, Rijal did not yet know the exact number of people arrested.

"There are four information that I got from Jawara. The others don't know because they are fragmented. Maybe there are many more. What is secured, I am ready to help, later from the law," said Rijal when met in the Tanah Abang area, Central Jakarta, Friday , December 18th.

Rijal said that when he submitted a notification of action to the police, he was only asked to sign the letter as the person in charge in case of crowds and violations of health protocols.

However, when the 1812 protest arrived at the Horse Statue area this afternoon, it turned out that the police immediately dispersed the crowd and said that crowd permits had been prohibited.

"I didn't know that I would be disbanded like this. The problem is I have to be responsible for having to disperse the masses. Yes, it can't be because everything is divided," he said.

Previously, when the crowd arrived at the Horse Statue area, the Central Jakarta Police Chief Kombes Heru Novianto asked the participants of the 1812 demonstration demanding the release of Rizieq Shihab's detention, to disperse.

He said there are health protocol rules that prohibit crowds during a pandemic. "COVID-19 in Jakarta is still high. Please return, you must be healthy and safe according to the health protocol rules. There are no crowds. I remind you to disperse immediately," Heru said.

So, when the command car bearing the FPI logo just arrived at the Horse Statue area, the police immediately moved to beat the crowd back. The mass scattered towards Gambir and Tanah Abang.

The masses did not want to be disbanded. However, the police continued to advance to beat the crowd slowly. Until finally, many of the protesters disbanded.

Head of Public Relations of Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Yusri Yunus said that his party had arrested 155 people who were about to leave for the action or who had arrived at the Arjuna Wiwaha Horse Statue area to hold the 1812 demonstration.

"Based on the latest data, we have secured 115 people. As many as 20 people were secured at Battalion 201. The rest were at the Polres and at Polda Metro Jaya," said Yusri.

Yusri said that these 155 masses were suspected to be provocateurs who would turn the action into chaos. In fact, one of the people arrested was caught carrying marijuana. "Of the 155 we secured, someone was found carrying marijuana. We found him in the Depok area," said Yusri.

In addition, there were two policemen who were injured by a sharp weapon in the form of a samurai that was carried by one of the people in the 1812 action.

The policeman was injured because he was dispersing the 1812 protest which was located on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, precisely in front of the DKI City Hall office.