Six held in student demo

JAKARTA (JP): Six people were arrested and five others injured during a demonstration yesterday by 200 people on the University of Indonesia's Jl. Salemba campus in Central Jakarta to commemorate the 40th day after the Ujungpandang riot in which three students died.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira confirmed the arrest of the students, saying that the police are still investigating whether they are really students.

The six were arrested for allegedly being the instigators of the demonstration, a police source said.

The four-hour demo, which started at 11 a.m, began with some of the demonstrators holding a mass prayer in the Arif Rahman Hakim mosque in the university complex, while the Christian participants held similar prayers in a yard next to the mosque.

The students then moved to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) on Jl. Diponegoro.

A riot erupted as the officers beat the students while trying to grab their banners. The police and students threw stones at each other. Five demonstrators and a Paron tabloid photographer, Wahyu Purwadi, were injured in the clash, which took place in front of the LBH front yard building.

Official statements said three students were killed in the protest against the increase in transportation fares in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi in April. (jun)