JAKARTA: A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed here last night [Aug 7], following riots on Sunday [Aug 5] night in which six were believed to have been killed and many wounded. A band of armed men carrying a Red flag tried to gain control of Tandjung Priok, Jakarta port. Fifty were arrested but there was still no official statement how the riots started, or the casualties suffered during fighting throughout Sunday night. At Bogor, President Ahmed Sukarno’s Residency, 40 miles south of Jakarta, a hand grenade was thrown among a shopping crowd, wounding more than 80 of whom 45 were sent to hospital.
According to eyewitnesses, the riots in Priok started when ... armed civilians entered a police post and started shooting. Reinforcements were rushed from Jakarta before the attackers could be dispersed.
Mopping-up operations on Monday paralysed all communications between Jakarta and the port. Many ships had to stay outside in the roads. The Government is investigating whether the Priok incident is connected with the riots in other parts of Indonesia.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026