Police disperse anti-Soeharto rally
JAKARTA (JP): Riot police dispersed a student street rally at the Semanggi cloverleaf in the heart of the capital on Friday morning, arresting 32 protesters, mostly female students.
According to police, the rally by students from the University of Indonesia demanding the immediate trial of former president Soeharto was illegal because protesters did not give prior notification to police as required by law.
The protest, which began at 6:20 a.m., also disrupted rush- hour traffic along the normally busy roads surrounding the cloverleaf, police said.
The commander of the 100-strong riot police unit, Maj. Soenaryo, said none of the 32 detained protesters would be jailed.
He said the protesters would be questioned and identified before being freed later in the evening.
However, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Daniel Panjaitan, who temporarily acted as counsel for the protesters, said the students had been charged with violating Article 510 of the Criminal Code on holding rallies in public places without giving prior notification to the police.
The violation carries a maximum punishment of two weeks imprisonment and a fine of up to Rp 2,250 (three U.S. cents).
The students staged the protest to mark the former president's 78th birthday, which fell on June 8.
They said they originally planned to hold the rally on June 8, but changed the date so they would not disrupt the general election.
"It's the right time now to remind people we still have the big issue (of the trial of Soeharto) to solve," one of the protesters said at City police headquarters.
During the protest, the students, attired in long white dresses, placed effigies of Soeharto around the Semanggi cloverleaf and carried small blackboards upon which were written various messages, including Jalan tol mahal, kantong Soeharto tebal (Toll road fees are expensive, Soeharto's pockets are thicker).
Before making the arrests, several policemen removed the effigies, a number of which were hung from trees along nearby Jl. Sudirman.
The officers also seized the headbands worn by the protesters, apparently as evidence.(emf/jun)