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Anti-US Protests Continue in Jakarta
Protests over the United States- led attacks on Afghanistan continued Wednesday in Jakarta when some 500 Muslim students of the University of Indonesia staged a protest in front of the US embassy.
After about half an hour of speeches, the students known by the acronym Salam moved to the presidential palace to protest over what they considered to be the Indonesian government's unclear stance on the US-led offensive.
The area in front of the US embassy was heavily guarded on Wednesday, especially after the attempt to break into the compound on Tuesday.
The front of the barricade consisted of a line of police motorbikes, followed by razor wire, police armored personnel carriers and finally a joint force of riot police and soldiers.
Meanwhile, about 300 students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) also staged demonstrations in front of the parliament's building, asking the government to sever diplomatic relations with the U.S.
On Wednesday morning, Jakarta Police chief Inspector General Sofjan Jacoeb had coffee with outgoing U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard at the U.S. embassy in Central Jakarta.
The U.S. ambassador had expressed his gratitude for police assistance in preventing protesters from breaking into the U.S. embassy compound on Tuesday, Senior Commissioner Beno Kilapong, who accompanied Sofjan in the meeting, was quoted by the SCTV television station as saying.
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