Students back to demos after holiday interlude

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students from seven universities in this ancient city took to the streets here yesterday to continue their antigovernment rallies under the watchful eyes of security forces.

Students of Ahmad Dahlan University spilled onto Jl. Kusumanegara after a formal "kick-off" ceremony by their rector, Professor Noeng Muhadjir, yelling that the economic crisis reflected the government's ineptitude.

Two kilometers away, hundreds of Sarjana Wiyata University students took over Jl. Kusumanegara and later joined their colleagues from Ahmad Dahlan University.

Like student protesters from other cities, the students here demanded for immediate reform.

Nine students of Wangsa Manggala University, owned by President Soeharto's half-brother Probosutedjo, went on hunger strike yesterday to protest the ongoing crisis.

In the nearby town of Purwokerto in Central Java, a sea of 10,000 people, consisting of university and high school students, lecturers, public drivers and becak (three-wheeled pedicab) drivers took to Jl. Raya HR Bunyamin for a mass rally demanding total reform.

The protesters, who demanded a new national leadership, refused to adhere to security official warnings not to take to the streets.

No clashes, however, were recorded during the tense, four-hour rally.

On Friday, some 70 people were injured when security personnel forcibly dispersed a crowd of 9,000 protesters in the same place.

In the Central Java capital of Semarang, 15 Walisongo Institute of Islamic Teaching (IAIN) students suffered head injuries from police batons.

Police beat students after the latter threw stones at the security forces from the IAIN campus.

Traffic congestion was also reported in the area after the angry students burned tires on a nearby street.

Sumanto, a leader of the protesters, cried: "We're ready to die for the sake of the dying people!"

In the West Java capital of Bandung, four students and a taxi driver were injured after a clash with security forces.

Two shops were heavily damaged when hundreds of students from five universities insisted on marching on the street heading to a nearby university from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, dozens of students held a giant banner outside the auditorium of University of Sumatra Utara (USU) that read: "Reform or Die".

Other students played guitar from one eatery to another to beg for funds to help victims of the recent riots in the city.

The riots, which killed at least two men and injured many others, have also raised the prices of essential goods there.

Some items, such as rice, sugar and cooking oil, have become scarce in the market even though local authorities have increased food distribution to cover the shortage. (har/23/24/43/45)