REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- National Police Deputy Chief Syafruddin said the police are obliged to prevent two opposite groups of mass not to blend in during Car Free Day in Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, Central Jakarta on Sunday (April 29). The incidents of alleged intimidations could be avoided if the police have taken steps to assure that the group of #2019GantiPresiden mass would not meet with people who wear #DiaSibukKerja t-shirt in one point of crowd.
"The police made a mistake by letting the two groups to blend in," Syafruddin told reporters at Parliament complex on Wednesday (May 2).
Syafruddin said if the act of people who wear #2019GantiPresiden t-shirt really was a persecutions then it violated the law. The Jakarta Metro Police would process the reported cases, he said.
Earlier, National Police Public Relations Division head Setyo Wasisto said the police have tried to separate the two groups. One of the groups was directed not to pass by the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout while the other was allowed to be in the area.
However, some of the people who wear t-shirt with hashtag DiaSibukKerja walked through the crowd with opposite political preference. Susi Ferwati along with her son and a man named Stedi were one of them. They were teased by some men who wore #2019GantiPresiden t-shirt.
"Our personnel have called on the women and men who were left behind from the group of #DiaSibukKerja to not walk through the opposite group of people," Central Jakarta Metro Police Roma Hutajulu said on Monday.
He would evaluate the situation and investigate the case of alleged intimidation to see whether it met the criminal elements.
On Sunday (April 29), people who wish to have a new president in 2019 election promote the idea by wearing t-shirt with hashtag #2019GantiPresiden in Car Free Day area, Jakarta. Meanwhile, Joko Widodo' supporters also came with t-shirt #DiaSibukKerja. The political movement was also popular with the term 'hashtags war' since it originally occured in social medias.