Police wary of restaurant closures

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police played down on Saturday widespread moves by anti-American protesters who have forced the closure of several locally owned American fast food franchises, saying the police would not take stern measures unless there was clear violence.

"We can only enforce the law if they use violence or threats are involved," said National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Didi Rochyadi.

Otherwise, Didi said, police could not arrest the protesters as they had the right to stage a rally anywhere.

The officer was commenting on demonstrations that have targeted American franchise restaurants McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in some parts of the country to protest the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

In Surabaya, Muslim activists grouped under the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Muslim Student Association (KAMMI) forced a McDonald's outlet to shut down business as police officers merely watched them on Friday.

Earlier protesters scared away customers from the KFC in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu on Tuesday and activists of the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) blocked several customers from entering a McDonald's outlet at the Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta for about 10 minutes.

Didi asserted that the police had deployed more personnel to safeguard the interests of the U.S. and its allies, including international franchises.

"The presence of more police may prevent violence from taking place," Didi said.

He added that officers in plainclothes had been deployed to anticipate possible chaos during rallies across the country.

Police have also banned night rallies so as not to disturb public order.

Anti-U.S. demonstrations continued on Saturday in several cities across the country.

In the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, nearly 300 supporters of the Justice Party (PK), marched from National Heroes Cemetery on Jl. Sudirman to the provincial legislature. They stopped in front of a McDonald's for a while on their way to the legislature to call for a boycott of U.S. products. No incident occurred during the demonstration that lasted about 15 minutes.

In Yogyakarta, some 2,000 PK members also staged a demonstration outside the Post Office near the Yogyakarta State Palace.

PK President Hidayat Nurwahid demanded the Indonesian government to withdraw its ambassador from Washington as a concrete step to express its rejection of the U.S.-led military takeover of Iraq.

The measure, Hidayat believed, would put pressure on the U.S. to stop the war.

The party, according to Hidayat, would also be sending volunteers to conduct a humanitarian mission in Iraq. The first batch of humanitarian volunteers of some 1,000 will be dispatched from Jakarta on Monday.

Hidayat said his party planned to recruit some 150,000 volunteers for the mission, but it was not made clear what their specific humanitarian skills were or who they would be helping, let alone how they planned to enter Iraq while the U.S. military had control of much of the country.

Separately, students from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University held a rally to condemn the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. They branded the attack a serious violation of the UN charter, international law and human rights.

The rector, Sofyan Effendi, deputy rectors, deans, lecturers and students took part in the rally which was held at the university campus.

They also criticized UN Secretary-General Koffi Anan for failing to stop the U.S. and its allies, and suggested that he return his Nobel peace prize.

In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, students of the Indonesian Muslim University took to the streets on Jl. Urip Sumohardjo to demand that the U.S. coalition and Iraq stop the war now so that there will be no civilian victims.

The students also distributed leaflets to passersby, asking them to attend to a mass prayer on Monday at Karebosi soccer field in the city.

In Jakarta, nearly 200 people from the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) took part in an anti-U.S. rally in front of the U.S. Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta.

On Sunday thousands of protesters from religious groups, student associations and nongovernmental organizations are expected to turn up for anti-American rallies in Jakarta.