A degenerate argument between two youth groups in Sorong leads to a burned down club and 19 dead. Unrest between ethnic groups is crucial.
Sorong – In the port city of Sorong in Indonesia, a violent clash broke out between two groups of young people on Monday evening (January 24th, 2022). According to the police in the city of Sorong in the Indonesian province of West Papua, 18 people died in the fire and another person was stabbed.
One person was fatally injured in a knife attack in the early hours of Tuesday night. Afterwards the discotheque was set on fire. 18 people died in the fire, 6 of them employees of the discotheque.
Sorong’s police chief: Clashes are the result of a ‘prolonged conflict’
Sorong police chief Ary Nyoto Setiawan said the clashes at the Double O club late Monday night were the result of a “prolonged conflict” that began on Saturday. According to a police spokesman, members of different ethnic groups attacked each other with machetes, arrows and incendiary devices.
What exactly triggered the violence and how the fire started is still being investigated. The fire brigade was only able to extinguish the fire in the club on Tuesday morning. A burned-out car also lay in front of the smoke-blackened building.
| country | Indonesia |
| population | 273.5 million inhabitants (as of 2020; estimate) |
| capital city | jakarta |
| head of state | President Joko Widodo |
Outreach to religious and tribal leaders – Police in West Papua crack down on unrest
Sorong is a major port city and the largest city in West Papua province. An unusual number of police officers were on the streets on Tuesday to prevent further inter-ethnic violence, an AFP reporter said. According to a spokesman, the West Papua regional police also contacted the region’s religious and tribal leaders.
“Clashes among youth in the cities are normal, but to have so many deaths is a novelty,” Adam Erwini, a spokesman for West Papua Police, told Metro TV. The fatal incident is still under investigation and it’s unclear if the death toll will continue to rise, Adam said. Indonesian Police Spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said the brawl was between two rival gangs from the neighboring island of Maluku. (lz/afp)
List of rubrics: © dpa
