Students protest local poll violence

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of Gadjah Mada University students staged a protest yesterday against violent election campaigning in this Javanese sultanate.

"The detention of 40 students of the Sunan Kalijaga State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) was an arbitrary act," Nining, one of the protesters, said.

Other protesters condemned security officers for their failure to capture members of Golkar's security force Cakra, involved in a series of violent attacks on the Yogyakarta offices of the United Development Party (PPP) on April 30, on the Yogyakarta- based Indonesian Islamic University (UII) last week and the IAIN Sunan Kalijaga on Sunday.

Carrying critical banners and posters, members of the Student Committee against Torture, and the Student Council of Gadjah Mada University also staged a free-speech forum on the campus.

The students protested in the traditional way, called topo pepe or sunbaking, and marched quietly around the campus.

In a statement, the student committee demanded that security officers conduct an investigation into the attack against the UII and IAIN campuses. (23/imn)