Protesters quit Russian embassy after long talks<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The 58 East Timorese and non-East Timorese
\nprotesters, who forced their way into the Russian embassy at dawn
\non Thursday, left the compound last night after long
\nnegotiations.<\/p>\n
As they were boarding a bus outside the embassy on Jl. MH
\nThamrin, dozens of people waiting outside shouted abusive words
\nat them, some even banging on the bus.<\/p>\n
\"Traitor,\" one of them shouted. \"Lucky you're in the bus. We
\nwould've turned you into satay,\" shouted another.<\/p>\n
Police in riot gear prevented the two groups from getting at
\none another. The identities of the counter-protesters were not
\nclear.<\/p>\n
Details of the deal that prompted the protesters in the
\nembassy to agree to leave were not immediately available last
\nnight. They were taken to Jakarta police headquarters.<\/p>\n
The protesters met earlier with human rights activist H.J.C.
\nPrincen, who ordered the bus for them.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 55 protesters who have been holed up at the Dutch
\nembassy on Jl. Rasuna Said in south Jakarta since Thursday
\nmorning held their ground yesterday, refusing to move out until
\ntheir demands were met. Princen was also on hand to help with the
\nnegotiations.<\/p>\n
He said he was seeking assurances from Jakarta military
\ncommander Maj. Gen. Wiranto that the protesters will be safe if
\nthey leave the embassy compound.<\/p>\n
The protesters in the two embassies, according to Princen,
\nmade three demands: a referendum in East Timor, the withdrawal of
\ntroops from the territory, and the release of all East Timorese
\npolitical prisoners.<\/p>\n
Asylum<\/p>\n
None, not even the East Timorese, requested political asylum.<\/p>\n
\"We want to be together with the Indonesian people,\" said
\nMariano Lopez, one of the East Timorese protesters at the Russian
\nembassy. \"We want a democratic referendum. We believe the
\nIndonesian people love the truth,\" he said, adding that he and a
\nnumber of his colleagues were students from Malang.<\/p>\n
Dutch Ambassador Paul Brouwer was seen yesterday with a
\nbandage on his head, many believed, to cover an injury he
\nsustained on Thursday when counter-protesters barged into the
\nDutch embassy to attack the protesters inside.<\/p>\n
Dutch First Secretary of Cultural Affairs M.A.N. Gitz
\nconfirmed the clash and that two diplomats were injured but not
\n\"seriously\". He declined to confirm if the ambassador was one of
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung called the
\nprotesters, including the non-East Timorese, inside the two
\nembassies \"scoundrels\". \"They don't love their own country,\" he
\ntold reporters after addressing a congress of the Association of
\nIndonesian Moslem Intellectuals.<\/p>\n
Feisal's spokesman Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo added that the
\ninvasion of the two embassies were engineered. \"Somebody, or some
\norganization, must have been behind all these.\"<\/p>\n
A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in The Hague on
\nThursday that Indonesian Ambassador Johannes Kadarisman has been
\nsummoned and told of the Netherlands' concern over the assault.<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin denounced
\nthe embassy occupation. \"We regard as unacceptable the
\npenetration on to embassy territory. This goes against generally
\naccepted international norms,\" he told reporters in Moscow.
\n(anr\/imn\/01\/03)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/protesters-quit-russian-embassy-after-long-talks-1447893297",
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