17 students injured in clash with security officers

17 students injured in clash with security officers

JAKARTA (JP): At least 17 student protesters were injured and
33 others detained by the police when demonstrators opposed to
President B.J. Habibie and security personnel clashed near the
President's residence on Jl. Patra Kuningan XIII in South Jakarta
on Wednesday.

The injured students were rushed by their fellow colleagues to
the nearby MMC hospital on Jl. Rasuna Said and Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital in Central Jakarta.

According to city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang,
the 33 students were being questioned by detectives at the city
police headquarters. He refused to give further details.

The detainees included students from the Economic Institute of
Budi Luhur, Jayabaya University, the University of Indonesia,
National University, Muhammad Husni Thamrin University, the ABA-
ABI foreign languages academy, Institute of Management and
Computer Science (STMIK), and the Don Bosco and Gonzaga Catholic
High Schools.

The clash occurred in the afternoon when a crowd of some 100
students grouped in the Collective Forum (Forbes), a loose
student organization of 11 universities and colleges in Greater
Jakarta, refused to obey the security officers' order to disperse
peacefully.

Those students that were able to escape unhurt fled to the
Ministry of Health and other nearby buildings.

Several security guards and employees of the nearby Menara
Kadin Indonesia building also suffered minor injuries when the
security officers entered the building complex to disperse the
crowd.

South Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Satrya Hari Prasetya told
reporters at the scene that the police had to disperse the
students because they had violated Law No. 9/1998 on freedom of
expression and disrupting public order.

"They had not informed us in advance about the rally. Besides,
they are also disrupting the traffic. We had the right to
disperse them," he said.

Protester Ebiet of STMIK said they arrived in the area in six
overloaded vans and reached Jl. Patra Kuningan Utara where they
were blocked by security officers some 200 meters from Habibie's
house.

The protesters rejected Habibie as the country's president and
called for the immediate establishment of a transitional
government.

"We'll reject the general election, because it will have been
organized by members of the New Order regime. If possible, the
transitional power structure will be set up before the election,"
he said.

Ebiet said that the student's visit to Habibie's residence was
only to symbolize their struggle.

"We think Habibie is the one responsible for everything
happening in this country. He is Soeharto's closest crony and
he's the one in charge now," Rinto Steven, another Forbes member,
said.

In the evening, 1,500 members of the City Forum (Forkot)
attempted to join the Forbes group in Kuningan. But they were
abruptly blockaded at the Kuningan crossroad.

At a rally near the Santa Ursula high school in Central
Jakarta, a plainclothes police sergeant was beaten by angry
students after he had been caught posing as a photo journalist.

"He was taken by forced into the car by the students," Central
Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said.

As of last night, the officer, identified as Chief Sgt.
Supratman was still in the students' custody at the University of
Indonesia Salemba campus.

"We are not trying to kidnap him. We're trying to save him,"
student Robert of the university said. (ivy/emf/edt)