Protesters take over radio station in Semarang
Protesters take over radio station in Semarang
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of student protesters in the Central
Java capital of Semarang, joined by hundreds of city residents,
took over the state-owned Radio Republik Indonesia station
yesterday forcing the radio station to air their demands for
reform.
The student demands for total reform, lower prices of
essential goods, an extraordinary session of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a stop to all violence were read
on the air by a radio announcer at 2:15 p.m. and later again by
one of the students at 3:30 p.m., Antara reported.
The takeover proceeded smoothly and there were no reports of
major damages to the studio building.
Hundreds of security personnel stood nearby but did not move
against the peaceful protest action.
The security officers then escorted the students and residents
as they marched down the city streets to the governor's office.
"The security apparatus' approach to the demonstrators was
sympathetic. Meanwhile, the students also showed commendable
self-restraint," the chairman of the provincial legislature
office, Alip Pandoyo, said.
Three kilometers from the scene, 5,000 students gathered near
Governor Soewardi's residence, chanting insults.
Soewardi at one point tried to talk to the students but had
plastic water bottles thrown at him.
Despite an absence of violence, the protests worried many shop
owners in the city, prompting them to close early.
In Surakarta, Central Java, dozens of students were injured --
some hit by rubber bullets -- when police opened fire at
demonstrating students of Surakarta Muhammadiyah University who
tried to break through a police barricade.
The violence triggered a riot by thousands of people outside
the campus on Jl. Pabelan in the city outskirts. The mob burned
15 buildings and six cars along Jl. Slamet Riyadi and Jl.
Purwosari over a nine-kilometer stretch.
Minor violence
Minor violence also occurred yesterday in Bogor, West Java,
when hundreds of people outside the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture (IPB) threw stones at 10,000 students staging an on-
campus demonstration.
They did so because the students refused to join them in a
march on the streets.
Rallies -- staged to mourn four Trisakti University students
killed Tuesday in Jakarta, condemned the practices of nepotism,
corruption and collusion in the House of Representatives and the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) -- were also staged in Ibnu
Khaldun University and Pakuan University.
They also demanded yesterday that the MPR hold an
extraordinary session to demand President Soeharto explain how
the country had come to its predicament.
In Medan, North Sumatra, thousands of students also
demonstrated at Sumatera Utara University to mourn the deaths of
the country's "heroes of reform".
They marched off their campus only to be stopped 600 meters
away by security forces.
A friendly negotiation took place between the students and
officers from the Armed Forces Strategic Reserves Command who
were at the scene.
The students then sat on the street and held a free-speech
forum. They sang antigovernment songs and many posed for
photographs with the soldiers.
In Purwokerto, Central Java, over 3,000 protesting students at
the National Islamic College (STAIN) were dispersed by tear gas
when they tried to break a police barricade to march off to the
streets.
In Bandung, West Java, over 100,000 students from several
universities gathered at the provincial legislature office to
demand for total government reform. (team)