Violence mars student demonstration in Medan
JAKARTA (JP): Students in Medan threw Molotov cocktails at security personnel who responded with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets yesterday as more than 20,000 protesters throughout the country continued their demonstrations for reforms.
In Bandung, the capital of West Java, however, tension dissipated when both student protesters and security personnel took a break to watch a concert by controversial musician Harry Roesli.
The violence in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, broke out when students at St. Thomas Catholic University attacked security personnel with Molotov cocktails and stones after being prevented from marching onto the streets.
The 1,000 students also burned tires at their campus gate. They dispersed after riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas against them.
At least one student was rushed to a nearby hospital after falling unconscious from the gas.
"This was the most violent demonstration here in the last few months," said Katarina, an economics student at the university.
In Jakarta, State Secretariat Administration Bureau Chief Shodiq received a letter and a single orchid from two Mercu Buana University students, Faizal Assegaf and Abdul Rohman, to be delivered to President Soeharto.
In the letter, the students urged Soeharto to speed up economic normalization because the current situation was too difficult for ordinary people to bear.
Security officers soon closed the gates and tightened control around the complex. The twenty students, who claimed to represent 1,500 colleagues, left the office soon afterward.
About 500 students of the private Nasional University in Jakarta clashed with police when they were prevented from marching onto the streets.
Traffic jams were unavoidable and most shops were closed in Ujungpandang, the capital of South Sulawesi, when thousands of students from various universities, including the state-owned Hasanuddin University, marched peacefully on the city's main streets after saying their Friday prayers.
They visited the graves of Muh Tasrif and Sultan Iskandar, who were killed in a clash between students and the military during a protest against transportation tariffs in April 1996.
Wirabuana Command chief Maj. Gen. Agum Gumelar pointed out that yesterday's march was still tolerable because the protesters voiced the people's dissatisfactions against the government.
"Their demand to lower prices and to alleviate corruption and collusion is an aspiration shared by all people," Antara quoted Agum as saying yesterday.
Agum, responsible for security in Sulawesi, is the only regional commander who allowed street marches.
"I respect and will not block the expression of positive information through demonstrations," Agum pledged.
In Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, 700 Sam Ratulangi University students held a free speech forum at their campus.
Student senate chairman Iwan Setiawan Lantang read out a statement condemning the infiltration of certain people into the campus. The "infiltrators" allegedly beat several students during a protest Monday.
In Surabaya, the capital of East Java, students and unemployed youths held separate protests during which they demanded President Soeharto enact political and economic reforms.
Students of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) also held a free-speech forum after their Friday prayers.
Uniformed police officers watched them. A heavy downpour apparently made them confident that the students would not hold their assembly long. As it turned out, however, the students remained and were drenched before they dispersed peacefully.
In Yogyakarta, 20,000 Moslem students were joined by laborers, housewives and pedicab drivers in a peaceful demonstration for reform at Gadjah Mada University. (21/43/30/37/nur/23/44/prb/swa)