The death of a protester allegedly to have been shot by a police officer
The protest against mining by residents in Toribulu, Kasimbar, and South Tinombo sub-districts, Parigi Moutong district, Central Sulawesi province on Saturday (12/02/2020) ended in grief. One of the protesters named Aldi, who came from Tada Village, South Tinombo District, Parigi Moutong Regency, died, allegedly being shot by a police bullet.
The accident commenced on January 17, 2022, when residents from three sub-districts held a rejection protest against mining and demanded the governor of Central Sulawesi, Rusdy Mastura, revoke PT Trio Kencana’s mining license. The Governor of Central Sulawesi, through his Expert Staff for Inter-Institutional Society and Human Rights named Ridha Saleh. He promised to meet the people, so their aspirations would be heard.
The promise was also collected by the public in the previous action on Saturday, February 12th, 2022. Residents, who held the action from morning around 10.30 local time until that evening, continued to wait, but the governor of Central Sulawesi did not come to meet the mass of action. Disappointed residents then blocked the road in Siney Village, South Tinombo District, Parigi Moutong Regency. The blocking is expected to trigger the governor’s response to immediately meet and grant the residents’ demands to revoke PT Trio Kencana’s mining permit.
Residents, who were reluctant to disassemble before meeting the governor, were then coercively dispersed by the police on site. From the video published, gunshots were heard constantly from the direction of the police on guard. In that accident, a mass protester named Aldi died, allegedly being shot by a bullet from the police and dozens injured. Other dozens of protesters were captured and still arrested at Parigi Moutong Resorts Police Office.
As is known, the struggle against the PT Trio Kencana gold mine by residents in Toribulu, Kasimbar, and South Tinombo sub-districts, Central Sulawesi has been going on for a long time. Various refusal actions have been done from Thursday, 31 December 2020; Monday, 17 January 2020; Monday, 7 February 2022; until its peak yesterday, 12 February 2020.
The residents’ rejection of the PT Trio Kencana gold mine is due to the mining concession area, which reaches 15,725 hectares, including residential, agricultural and plantation land owned by residents.
Regarding the mining of PT Trio Kencana and the death of a resident, we urge:
- Urge the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources to stop the mining operation and revoke PT Trio Kencana’s mining license.
- Urge Komnas HAM and Komnas Perempuan to immediately carry out in-depth investigations regarding the alleged criminal acts of the police officers suspected of being the perpetrators of the shooting of the dead.
- Urge the National Police Chief to withdraw all police officers from the location, process the police officers suspected of having shot the victim according to the law, as well as process the law for the Parigi Moutong Police Chief who failed to prevent the deaths from occurring in the handling of the mass action.
Contact Person:
Muh Taufik – JATAM Sulteng – +62 822-9209-5416
Ramadhani – JATAM Sulteng – +62 852-4100-9590