President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has underlined that the state and the people of Indonesia will not tolerate terrorism.
“The state and all of the people will never be afraid and will never give space to terrorism or any other effort to undermine the country’s security,” he told journalists during a press conference at the Bogor Palace on Thursday.
In the brief press conference called after the 40-hour standoff ended, the president expressed appreciation for the work of the police in the prison riot.
“All of the terrorist convicts have surrendered to the security officers, and at this opportunity I want to say the biggest thank you on behalf of the people and the state to all of the officers involved in handling this case,” he said.
He also offered his condolences to the families of the five fallen officers.
“I have ordered the deputy police chief to promote the ranks of the officers who fell victim to the terrorists’ brutality,” he said.
The riot broke out at a detention center at the Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java, on Tuesday evening. During the riot, an unconfirmed number of terrorism detainees killed five police officers, held another one hostage and seized a number of weapons stored as evidence in terrorism cases. The counterterrorism squad Densus 88 defused the standoff, after which 155 detainees surrendered. (gis/swd)
