Students rally near Habibie's house

JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested dozens of protesting students for staging an illegal street rally near President B.J. Habibie's residence on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Friday.

The 80 students, including 15 women, were from the Trisakti University Students Action.

"They are still being questioned at city police headquarters, but I don't think we plan to detain them," city police detectives chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo told The Jakarta Post.

The students were protesting the proposed bill on state security and civilian militia.

The House of Representative is currently deliberating the widely criticized bill.

"We also seized some banners as evidence of the offense," Alex said, adding the students faced charges of violating Law No. 9/1998 on Freedom of Expression.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said police were forced to disperse the rally because the students did not give police prior notification of the demonstration, as required by the law. He also said the protest disrupted public activities.

"They planned to stage the protest in front of Habibie's residence, but we managed to block them in front of the Ministry of Health, which is only a few meters away from the restricted area around the presidential house," Lubis said. (emf)