Acehnese rally for referendum

JAKARTA (JP): About 1,000 Acehnese rallied in front of the presidential palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, urging the government to hold a referendum in the province.

Wearing white bandannas and holding Free Aceh Movement (GAM) flags, some demonstrators occupied parts of the street and prohibited public buses from passing through.

Others almost ran amok when a bus driver tried to ignore the demonstrators' order. Their colleagues rushed to calm them down.

The coordinator of the rally, Faisal Saifuddin from the Center of Information for the Aceh Referendum (Sira), said he and the other Acehnese wanted to meet President Abdurrahman Wahid to lodge their demand.

"We want to tell the President that a referendum must be conducted immediately in Aceh, and Aceh's independence from Indonesia should be included in the options," Faisal told The Jakarta Post.

The demonstrators, however, failed to meet the President.

Faisal claimed that the rally was participated in by some 5,000 Acehnese living in Greater Jakarta, Aceh, Medan in North Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Kalimantan.

About 100 mobile brigade personnel from the Jakarta Police stood guard at the palace.

After failing to meet the President, the demonstrators marched to the United Nations (UN) building on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, causing traffic congestion on nearby streets, such as Jl. Merdeka Barat and Jl. Thamrin.

Upon their arrival in front of the UN building, two trucks full of police personnel from the Jakarta Police arrived to help secure the UN property.

The crowd dispersed peacefully at about 5 p.m. (08)