While teenagers around the world get into fights, in Indonesia and especially around Jakarta there is a culture of school rivalries leading to massive ritualistic brawls called tawuran that can involve dozens of participants and can often turn deadly, as detailed in this documentary by Al-Jazeera.
Such a tawuran was set to take place yesterday in Depok, but fortunately members of the satellite city’s Team Jaguar (a forced but admittedly cool sounding abbreviation for Tim Khusus PenJAGa GanggUAn dan Anti KeRusuhan = Special Team Guarding Against Disruptions and Rioting) police unit managed to prevent it before the otherwise inevitable violence.
“Dozens of vocational school students who want to brawl were secured by Team Jaguar Sawangan Police Sector,” Depok Jaguar Police Commissioner Satu Winam Agus told Wartakota today.
In total, 44 students from an undisclosed vocational school were detained, and police said they had confiscated dozens of sickle blades from them.
They were arrested after local police got reports from the public who were worried about plans for the brawl.
Police said they released the 44 students after they were given guidance, picked up by their parents and signed a statement saying they would not repeat their actions.
