1,100 police, military deployed to Palopo after riots

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Mon, April 01 2013, 9:14 PM

The South and West Sulawesi Police have announced they have deployed 1,100 personnel to Palopo following yesterday’s riots that burned down several offices, including the office of the Palopo Post newspaper.

“Right now everything’s under control. However, we’ve deployed more officers to the site to make sure,” South and West Sulawesi Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Endi Sutendi said as quoted by Antara News Agency on Monday.

He said 400 out of the 1,100 personnel were from the police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) while the rest were soldiers from a local army barracks.

On Sunday a mob went on the rampage using Molotov cocktails following the local General Elections Commission (KPUD) announcement that the Judas Amir-Ahmad Syarifuddin ticket had won the local municipality elections.

The mob then burned down the local Golkar Party headquarters, the General Elections Monitoring Committee office and the Palopo Post office. (nai/dic)