Anti Belo demonstration

YOGYAKARTA: About 1,000 Moslem students held a demonstration yesterday at the Gadjah Mada University against East Timor's Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo over his stand in last month's religious violence in Dili.

The banner-waving demonstrators charged that Belo was seeking to turn East Timor into an exclusive Catholic territory, and that he had no respect for Moslems in the former Portuguese colony.

"Belo, get out," a poster said. "Belo coward" and "NGOs, why do you keep silent", read others. The protesters were mostly students of the Gadjah Mada University and the Indonesian Islamic University.

Under the watchful eyes of security officers, protesters took turns at the podium and shouted their anger at the bishop, who has denied press reports that he demanded an exclusively Catholic status for East Timor.

Rioters targeted migrants, mostly Moslems, when they went on the rampage in the streets of Dili between Sept. 2 and 14. Several mosques and Protestant churches were burned down.

The demonstrators charged that Belo had nurtured religious fanaticism and "used the Vatican for his personal ends." (02/pan)