East Timor students stage counter rally

East Timor students stage counter rally

YOGYAKARTA (JP): About 100 East Timorese students in this
ancient city staged a counter rally yesterday in response to
Monday's pro-integration demonstration in Jakarta.

They strongly rejected the claims made by a group of about 30
pro-integration activists, who met with officials in Jakarta to
reassert their allegiance to the government.

In the demonstration in Jakarta, the pro-government activists
condemned East Timorese separatist leader in exile Ramos Horta,
who shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize with Dili Bishop Carlos
Filipe Ximenes Belo.

The students arrived at the legislative council near the
Malioboro business district at about 11 a.m., shouting slogans
and carrying banners.

In their statement submitted to the councilor, the students
said the pro-integration activists did not have any mandate to
claim that they represent all of the East Timorese people.

"They do not have enough knowledge about East Timorese
affairs," the students said. "They think that the East Timorese
problem is the affair of a certain group."

They reaffirmed their support for the Nobel committee's choice
of Belo and Horta, whom they said most deserved it.

The students urged the government to involve Belo, Horta and
Xanana Gusmao, an East Timorese rebel now jailed in Jakarta, in
the peace talks on East Timor.

They reiterated the demand that the government free all
political prisoners, including East Timorese ones.

The protesters dispersed peacefully at 1:15 p.m. Three
military trucks took them back to their dormitory, about eight
kilometers north of Malioboro. (23/pan)