24 apprehended in E. Timor protest

24 apprehended in E. Timor protest

DILI, East Timor (JP): Local police chief Col. Andreas
Sugianto said security authorities arrested 24 people in a new
pro-independence demonstration here yesterday.

Several dozen people staged the demonstration at the East
Timor University, where police also seized 10 posters containing
anti integration-messages and demands for the release of rebel
leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, now jailed in Jakarta.

Andreas told The Jakarta Post that police had discovered that
the demonstrators were not students but people who used the
campus to dramatize their political demands.

Security officers had blocked the campus yesterday and Andreas
said they tightened security on the campus last night.

Eyewitnesses said that the demonstration started at
approximately 9.30 a.m. when a group of youths unfurled banners
and chanted slogans when they entered the university.

Their presence provoked a quarrel with students. The intruders
ran away when security personnel, firing several warning shots,
arrived at the scene.

The tumult continued in nearby streets when angry students
pelted passing vehicles with stones. Many shops and offices were
closed, apparently in fear of vandalism.

Eyewitnesses also said that security authorities stopped
several foreigners from filming the incident and escorted them
from the area.

Security officers, many in anti-riot gear, across the town
were seen tightening their vigilance.

The incident happened as Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali
Alatas and Portuguese counterpart Jose Durao Barroso were about
to start talks on the East Timor question in Geneva, under the
auspices of UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali.

The former Portuguese colony integrated into Indonesia in 1976
but the UN is yet to recognize it. (yac/pan)