JAKARTA — Amnesty International says Indonesian police fatally shot dozens petty criminals in a deliberate campaign of “unnecessary and excessive” force ahead of the Asian Games.
The rights group said 31 of the police killings it recorded from media reports between January and August were directly linked to street crime crackdowns for the games being hosted in Jakarta and Palembang.
The rights group said police shot dead 77 petty criminals across Indonesia during the same period, a large increase from 2017.
Police were criticized last month when they said they killed 11 street thugs in Jakarta in just two weeks.
Amnesty official Usman Hamid said hosting an international sports event “must not come at the price of abandoning human rights.”
Some 12,000 athletes are competing in the 18th games, which open Saturday.
