Over 250 student protesters, mostly females, arrested

JAKARTA (JP): The city police arrested 259 student protesters from the City Forum (Forkot) on Tuesday for allegedly staging a street rally without the required permit.

Two hundreds and fifty-one of the arrested protesters were females.

All were charged with staging a demonstration without a permit and the males were also charged with insulting police officers, city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said.

"We have the right to arrest anyone who violates the law," Aritonang said.

The students were arrested outside the Jakarta Police headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto near the House of Representatives.

The students said they wanted to march to the House to lodge a protest against remarks made by State Minister of Women Affairs Tutty Alawiyah on the previous day. On Tuesday, Tutty urged female students to return to their campuses and stop attending street rallies.

The girls arrived on Jl. Gatot Subroto in two overloaded buses which were stopped by a police cordon in front of the Jakarta Police headquarters.

The students then poured out onto the street and unfurled a big banner that read: "Girls have the right and duty to join the reform movement."

Scores of policewomen and unarmed soldiers joined the security cordon shortly after the students arrived, leaving them heavily outnumbered.

The students were told to disperse peacefully by a policewoman speaking through a megaphone. They were warned that they did not have a permit for their rally and had thus violated Law No.9/1998 on Freedom of Expression.

The policewoman's warning was greeted with harsh words from the protesters, who came from several universities in the capital.

However, less than 10 minutes after the announcement, the policewomen herded the students into military trucks which were then driven inside the police station.

As of late on Tuesday evening, all the students were still in police custody, Aritonang said.

"Whether or not they will be detained longer depends solely on the results of the ongoing investigation," he said.

Blame

The arrests were condemned by other Forkot activists.

"I'm confused. Why did they only detain Forkot students? Why didn't they arrest all of the students who staged protests today?" Eli Salomo from Forkot said.

The Forkot rally was one of several street protests in the capital on Tuesday.

No fatalities or serious clashes were reported at any of the demonstrations, however a nasty incident almost occurred at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout when an angry soldier attempted to open fire on student protesters grouped in the Pancasila Students Movement for Reform (Gempur).

The head of the Menteng police subprecinct, Capt. Firman Shantyabudi, said that protesters had called the soldier names and mocked and teased him.

"Luckily we managed to stop him from shooting," Firman said.

Elsewhere in the capital, students from Gunadarma University and Muhammadiyah Students Union staged a midday protest on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta, only 500 meters away from the State Palace.

Six hundred students from Gunadarma University later went to the nearby Ministry of Home Affairs, while 200 Muhammadiyah students went to the Supreme Court, which lies adjacent to the ministry.

The two groups demanded the reopening of investigations into a number of unresolved human rights violations and called for a fair general election to be held next year.

A further 70 members of Forkot staged an anti-Habibie rally at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout before moving down to the toll road in front of the House of Representatives.

There they met students from Gempur. Members of the two groups sung, danced and screamed their lungs out.

White and blue banners read: "Habibie Down" and "Wiranto Where Are Your Teeth".

At about 4:20, the students dispersed peacefully. Their departure was well received by the security forces, who took their turn to sing and dance to vent their emotions.

The police officers banged their batons and shields while singing: "Ingin marah silakan, ingin diam silahkan, asal jangan kau putuskan cintamu" (Please be angry, please be quite, but don't break your love), a famous local hit.

"Besok datang lagi, datang lagi, tangkap lagi (Come again tomorrow and we'll again arrest you)," they continued. (emf/edt)