Cops don't meddle in Satya Wacana

SEMARANG, Central Java: Maj. Gen. Hariman AS, chief of the Central Java and Yogyakarta regional police command, said that the authorities will not interfere in the internal conflict riddling the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga.

The police will move in only if the law is violated on campus, Hariman said here Thursday. "What we will do is catch anyone breaking the laws," he said.

The authorities had to forcibly disperse a demonstration early this week because the protest turned violent, he told journalists.

Hundreds of students went on the rampage at the university on Monday in protest of what they saw as the management's inability to resolve the one-year-old bickering which has seriously disrupted campus life.

More than a dozen students were reportedly arrested for vandalizing campus property. The protesters are demanding that rector John JOI Ihalauw resign and sacked lecturer Arief Budiman be reinstated. (har/05)