Over 250 student protesters, mostly females, arrested<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city police arrested 259 student protesters
\nfrom the City Forum (Forkot) on Tuesday for allegedly staging a
\nstreet rally without the required permit.<\/p>\n
Two hundreds and fifty-one of the arrested protesters were
\nfemales.<\/p>\n
All were charged with staging a demonstration without a permit
\nand the males were also charged with insulting police officers,
\ncity police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said.<\/p>\n
"We have the right to arrest anyone who violates the law,"
\nAritonang said.<\/p>\n
The students were arrested outside the Jakarta Police
\nheadquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto near the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
The students said they wanted to march to the House to lodge a
\nprotest against remarks made by State Minister of Women Affairs
\nTutty Alawiyah on the previous day. On Tuesday, Tutty urged
\nfemale students to return to their campuses and stop attending
\nstreet rallies.<\/p>\n
The girls arrived on Jl. Gatot Subroto in two overloaded buses
\nwhich were stopped by a police cordon in front of the Jakarta
\nPolice headquarters.<\/p>\n
The students then poured out onto the street and unfurled a
\nbig banner that read: "Girls have the right and duty to join the
\nreform movement."<\/p>\n
Scores of policewomen and unarmed soldiers joined the security
\ncordon shortly after the students arrived, leaving them heavily
\noutnumbered.<\/p>\n
The students were told to disperse peacefully by a policewoman
\nspeaking through a megaphone. They were warned that they did not
\nhave a permit for their rally and had thus violated Law No.9\/1998
\non Freedom of Expression.<\/p>\n
The policewoman's warning was greeted with harsh words from
\nthe protesters, who came from several universities in the
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
However, less than 10 minutes after the announcement, the
\npolicewomen herded the students into military trucks which were
\nthen driven inside the police station.<\/p>\n
As of late on Tuesday evening, all the students were still in
\npolice custody, Aritonang said.<\/p>\n
"Whether or not they will be detained longer depends solely on
\nthe results of the ongoing investigation," he said.<\/p>\n
Blame<\/p>\n
The arrests were condemned by other Forkot activists.<\/p>\n
"I'm confused. Why did they only detain Forkot students? Why
\ndidn't they arrest all of the students who staged protests
\ntoday?" Eli Salomo from Forkot said.<\/p>\n
The Forkot rally was one of several street protests in the
\ncapital on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
No fatalities or serious clashes were reported at any of the
\ndemonstrations, however a nasty incident almost occurred at the
\nHotel Indonesia roundabout when an angry soldier attempted to
\nopen fire on student protesters grouped in the Pancasila Students
\nMovement for Reform (Gempur).<\/p>\n
The head of the Menteng police subprecinct, Capt. Firman
\nShantyabudi, said that protesters had called the soldier names
\nand mocked and teased him.<\/p>\n
"Luckily we managed to stop him from shooting," Firman said.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the capital, students from Gunadarma University
\nand Muhammadiyah Students Union staged a midday protest on Jl.
\nMedan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta, only 500 meters away from
\nthe State Palace.<\/p>\n
Six hundred students from Gunadarma University later went to
\nthe nearby Ministry of Home Affairs, while 200 Muhammadiyah
\nstudents went to the Supreme Court, which lies adjacent to the
\nministry.<\/p>\n
The two groups demanded the reopening of investigations into a
\nnumber of unresolved human rights violations and called for a
\nfair general election to be held next year.<\/p>\n
A further 70 members of Forkot staged an anti-Habibie rally at
\nthe Hotel Indonesia roundabout before moving down to the toll
\nroad in front of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
There they met students from Gempur. Members of the two groups
\nsung, danced and screamed their lungs out.<\/p>\n
White and blue banners read: "Habibie Down" and "Wiranto Where
\nAre Your Teeth".<\/p>\n
At about 4:20, the students dispersed peacefully. Their
\ndeparture was well received by the security forces, who took
\ntheir turn to sing and dance to vent their emotions.<\/p>\n
The police officers banged their batons and shields while
\nsinging: "Ingin marah silakan, ingin diam silahkan, asal jangan
\nkau putuskan cintamu" (Please be angry, please be quite, but
\ndon't break your love), a famous local hit.<\/p>\n
"Besok datang lagi, datang lagi, tangkap lagi (Come again
\ntomorrow and we'll again arrest you)," they continued. (emf\/edt)<\/p>",
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