Security forces quell student demonstration<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Security personnel quelled another
\ndemonstration by hundreds of Gadjah Mada University students here
\nyesterday and will charge eight of them.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta military commander Col. A.R. Gaffar said the
\nstudents would face charges of inciting people to boycott the
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
\"We arrested them after careful consideration and I'm
\nresponsible for maintaining public order here,\" Gaffar said.<\/p>\n
The government and scholars have said that citizens have the
\nright to vote or not vote, but those persuading others not to
\nvote are criminals.<\/p>\n
The 1985 general election law says that people preventing
\nothers from exercising their right to vote on polling day can be
\nimprisoned for up to five years.<\/p>\n
Agitation charges may also be leveled at those persuading
\npeople to boycott general elections. They can be sentenced for up
\nto six years in jail.<\/p>\n
Yesterday's demonstration was a continuation of rallies in
\nsupport of the ousted chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party,
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri. The police arrested 24 students on the
\nfirst day of protests on Tuesday, but released them last night.<\/p>\n
The students, calling themselves the Committee for Indonesian
\nDemocracy, marched to their campus yesterday morning, demanding
\nthat the police release their friends.<\/p>\n
At noon, riot police dispersed the demonstration. Witnesses
\nsaid that at least five students were knocked unconscious by the
\npolice.<\/p>\n
The chief of Sleman, Yogyakarta, district police, Lt. Col.
\nAndi Djaka defended the police's use of force against the
\nstudents, saying that the authorities were trying to stop the
\ndemonstration escalating.<\/p>\n
A poll conducted last year by Riswandha Imawan, a lecturer at
\nthe university's School of Social and Political Sciences, says
\nthat 60 percent of the 1,000 students surveyed will boycott the
\nelection. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/security-forces-quell-student-demonstration-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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