Students protest, demand Habibie, Wiranto to quit<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The capital on Wednesday witnessed a new wave of
\nstreet protests by thousands of students after just four days of
\nuneasy calm.<\/p>\n
Voicing the same demand for the resignation of President B.J.
\nHabibie and Minister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces Chief
\nGen. Wiranto, the demonstrators -- mostly students -- aired their
\nprotests at three different spots in the city.<\/p>\n
Unlike last week's massive protests that ended in bloody
\nclashes, the three noisy street demonstrations on Wednesday
\npassed peacefully.<\/p>\n
They, however, caused anger among the motorists trapped in
\nheavy traffic congestion and who had to use more petrol as they
\nwere diverted by the police.<\/p>\n
At the famous Hotel Indonesia roundabout in the heart of the
\ncity, a crowd of some 500 students grouped in the Student Action
\nFront for Reform and Democracy (Famred) and the Parliament of
\nIndonesian Students (Parmi) staged a noisy but peaceful rally
\nunder the watchful eyes of military and police personnel.<\/p>\n
Besides calling for the resignation of Habibie and Wiranto,
\nthe students also declined to recognize the results of last
\nweek's Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR).<\/p>\n
They also called for an immediate and transparent
\ninvestigation into the Black Friday incident at the Semanggi
\ncloverleaf in Central Jakarta last week.<\/p>\n
Students in the demonstration that started at about 1:30 p.m.
\npacked almost every inch of the roundabout and parts of the
\nstreets connected to the city's main thoroughfares of Jl. M.H.
\nThamrin and Jl. Imam Bonjol.<\/p>\n
At the same time, two different groups of students staged
\nseparate demonstrations in front of the Taman Ria Senayan
\nRecreational Park in Central Jakarta and in front of the Slipi
\nintersection in West Jakarta to voice similar demands.<\/p>\n
Both locations on Jl. Gatot Subroto are only hundreds of
\nmeters from the Assembly's building.<\/p>\n
The protesters were dispersed peacefully by the security
\nauthorities after staging the rallies over several hours.<\/p>\n
On Friday last week, thirteen people were killed and hundreds
\ninjured when thousands of university students, joined by the
\nmasses, were shot by the troops at Semanggi.<\/p>\n
The number of student protesters, involved in the
\ndemonstration in front of the Hotel Indonesia on Wednesday,
\nescalated as more and more students joined the group marching to
\nthe Atma Jaya Catholic University in Central Jakarta. The Friday
\nincident at Semanggi occurred right in front of the university.<\/p>\n
The group, eventually totaling 3,000 students, then stopped in
\nfront of the university and continued their action until 5:30
\np.m. when most of them decided to enter the university's compound
\nto join a tahlilan (recitation of Moslems' confession of faith)
\nand a Mass for the Christians in the evening.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of students from various
\nuniversities staged a \"ceremony\" commemorating the Friday
\nSemanggi incident at the university campus. (imn\/bsr)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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