Police beat student protesters

Police beat student protesters

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Police personnel beat a number of
student protesters for disrupting on Tuesday a plenary meeting of
the provincial legislature.

Lombok Barat Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dani Wiswa Wardana
said security troops used violence just to discipline the
students. No arrest was made after police dispersed the rally
held to protest the proposed provincial budget.

"We just try to maintain order and allow the meeting to take
place without any disturbances," he said.

Initially, about 60 students and activists of non-governmental
organizations attended the plenary meeting, which was open to the
public. After a five-minute break, however, they began to disrupt
the meeting by voicing their rejections of the proposed budget.
Some took out posters from their bags which read, "Reject the
2003 provincial budget".

The councillors gave the students some time to express their
concerns, but at the end of the meeting, the students resumed
their boisterous protest against the budget.

Police then rushed into the plenary hall and dragged some of
the students out of the room and started beating them. --Antara