Death toll in Jakarta's post-election rioting increases to eight

"If a peaceful rally has run well, but there are certain parties who are keen to create unrest, we should carefully watch them," the Governor of Jakarta said.

Jakarta's post-election rioting, which took place from Tuesday to Wednesday has claimed eight lives and resulted in 541 protestors being injured, as of Thursday at 11.00 a.m. local time, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said.

"The victims have received medical treatment at several hospitals around Jakarta," he told journalists on the sidelines of his visit to the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) building in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

Of those injured, 294 victims were between 20 and 24 years old, and 170 others were below 19 years, he said, adding that the number of youths involved in the post-election rioting was "large enough".

Baswedan said police investigators are probing the causes of deaths of the eight fatalities, and the public can monitor the ongoing investigation.

"We will let the police conduct the investigation process, while the data about the dead victims is available in our hospitals," he said.

The dead civilians were identified as Farhan Syafero (31); M. Reyhan Fajari (16); Abdul Ajiz (27); Bachtiar Alamsyah; Adam Nooryan (19); Widianto Rizky Ramadan (17); a man without identity; and Sandro (31).

To prevent the recurrence of fatal incidents in the future, Anies Baswedan called upon the community to remain vigilant and aware of certain parties wanting to incite them to run amok.

"If a peaceful rally has run well, but there are certain parties who are keen to create unrest, we should carefully watch them," he said.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) had announced the final results of the recent parliamentary and presidential elections, detailing the victory of the Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma'ruf Amin pair early Tuesday.

The final tally was announced by the KPU at 1:28 a.m. local time, indicating that the Jokowi- Amin pair had secured 85 million votes, or 55.5 percent of the national vote, as compared to contenders Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno receiving 68 million votes, or 44.5 percent.

The Jokowi-Amin pair has sincedeclared victory, while the Prabowo-Sandi pair rejected the KPU's official tabulation result and vowed to challenge it at the Constitutional Court (MK).

This unfinished political process has sparked a mass protest from the Prabowo-Sandi pair's supporters, who alleged massive fraud in the presidential elections.

The police allowed them to stage the rally until they finished performing Tarawih (evening prayers during the holy month of Ramadhan). As revealed by National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo, the peaceful demonstrators had left around 9 p.m. from in front of the Bawaslu building.

However, according to Prasetyo, two hours later some 100 people again gathered in front of the Bawaslu building and destroyed the barbed-wire barricades. Instead of leaving the scene, they attacked the police by throwing stones, wood, and Molotov cocktails at them.

Tensions arose and led to a riot in the Tanah Abang area of Central Jakarta from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning.

(INE)