Jakarta: Police in the Indonesian capital have killed dozens of people as part of an escalating crackdown against petty criminals ahead of the Asian Games, in a campaign Amnesty International Indonesia has described as “unnecessary and excessive”.
Based on monitoring from January to August this year, Amnesty International said 31 police killings were directly linked to the Games, which open in Jakarta and Palembang on Saturday, said the Guardian.
The rights group said police shot dead 77 petty criminals across Indonesia during the same period, a 64 per cent increase from the year 2017.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid argued the surge in killings revealed a “veil of impunity” that taints the Indonesian security apparatus.
“The hosting of an international sporting event must not come at the price of abandoning human rights. The killings must stop and all deaths must be promptly and effectively probed,” he said.