A female protester allegedly became the victim of police brutality after she was slapped in the face following a verbal argument with a cop.
Yesterday, police dispersed a weekly demonstration by a textile workers’ union in the city of Tangerang, who were protesting against the allegedly unlawful employment termination of 1,300 workers at PT Panarub.
The protesters’ spokesperson, Emilia Yanti, then tried to argue against the dispersion with several police officers. The argument became extremely heated and then, out of nowhere and without any physical provocation, a policeman slapped her in the face in an incident that was caught on camera:
“When we were engaged in dialogue with the officers, [one policeman] suddenly slapped my peer. This is a highly unethical action towards protesters, especially since we’re all women,” said protest coordinator Kokom Komalawati, as quoted by Okezone, before asking the National Police Chief to have the slapper fired from the force.
The Tangerang Metro Police said that the officer, whose rank was revealed to be Adjunct Grand Police Commissioner (AKBP), is the head of the Tangerang Metro Police’s Intel Unit. He is now being investigated internally.
“We apologize for the incident. We will act against the perpetrator in accordance with the rules,” said Tangerang Metro Police Chief Harry Kurniawan, as quoted by Detik.
“The head of the Intel Unit lost control of his emotions and he couldn’t control his hand, causing that slap.”
It just goes to show that there are a wide range of police officers in Indonesia, those who “lose control of their emotions” when talking to somebody and those who are able to keep a cool head even in incredibly tense situations, like traffic cop who was able to save a mother and her baby during a hostage standoff in East Jakarta yesterday.
It’s not yet clear what sanctions, if any, the slapper will face.
