This weekend when he announced a 70-percent increase in fuel and electricty costs, he made it clear the police would increase force at such protests. Such a violent effort to quiet students is a terrible offense against those who have spoken out, or will speak out, against their government. Actions like these put a knife to their throats. Whether students dared the law after Suharta's threat, or the law felt they were given free license to beat young, idealist students from rich families is indeterminable. However, we cannot excuse the deaths and violent police reaction no matter how many student were protesting, even if their demonstration blocked a major highway.
Student protesting social issues is nothing new.
Our campus has experienced the highs and lows of such demonstrations. Such police action is deplorable, and is aimed only at supressing unrest, which certainly will surface again unless police act as crowd control rather than a bunch of thugs. All rights reserved. No portion of The Alligator Online may be reproduced without the written consent of an officer of Campus Communications, Inc.