Protesters end Dutch embassy sit-in

Protesters end Dutch embassy sit-in

JAKARTA (JP): Some 55 East Timorese and non-East Timorese
protesters ended their two-day occupation of the Dutch embassy
late afternoon yesterday and were immediately bussed to the South
Jakarta Police Precinct.

One of the protesters had to be helped by friends as they left
the embassy compound in the Jl. Rasuna Said area for the two
buses provided by the police, witnesses said.

A Dutch embassy official accompanied the protesters to the
police precinct. It was not immediately clear what concessions
they secured in return for leaving the embassy.

They had made three demands: a referendum on the question of
East Timor's integration with Indonesia, a withdrawal of all
troops from the territory and the release of all East Timorese
political prisoners.

They had also sought government assurances of their safety
once they come out of the embassy.

South Jakarta Police Precinct Chief Lt. Col. Silvanus Wenas
was on standby outside the embassy almost all through the day as
the embassy officials negotiated with the protesters. He was seen
going and out several times.

"We're not involved in the negotiations," he told reporters.

The agreement was reached less than an hour after human rights
campaigner H.J.C. Princen came to join the negotiations which
lasted more than four hours.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Police headquarters yesterday released
all 57 protesters who had broken into the Russian embassy on
Thursday, after having held them for questioning for almost 24
hours.

They were not charged.

A police official said that it was up to the Russian embassy
on whether or not to press charges, because the protesters forced
their way into its sovereign territory.

The two embassy break-ins occurred at almost the same time in
the early hours on Thursday. (01)