INDONESIA: JAKARTA: VIOLENCE ROCKS CAPITAL AHEAD OF GENERAL ELECTION

(20 May 1997) Eng/Indonesian

Violence has rocked parts of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta ahead of the May 29 general election.

Thousands of opposition supporters staged a noisy protest Tuesday in central Jakarta, throwing rocks and setting fires after police blocked them from holding a campaign rally.

Police with helmets and riot shields fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters - most of them young men who had gathered for a rally by the Muslim-oriented United Development Party (P-P-P).

The incident is one of many outbreaks that have plagued the run-up to the polls - which has seen the worst violence since the tightly controlled election system was set up in 1971.

Indonesian police broke up a noisy protest in eastern Jakarta on Tuesday.

Thousands of opposition supporters - most of them for the United Development Party, or P-P-P - had shown up to stage a rally in central Jakarta.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.

Police fired water cannon at the crowd from two armoured vehicles.

Leaders of Indonesia's three permitted parties had promised on Sunday not to hold any more outdoor rallies in Jakarta.

The temporary ban is to prevent further campaign-related violence before the parliament elections on May 29.

The army says 73 people have been killed so far - some in fights between supporters of rival parties but most in traffic accidents during chaotic motorcades.

Witnesses said the violence on Tuesday erupted after police blocked an impromptu march by the protesters and word spread that police had beaten one marcher with a stick.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This trouble is from - people cannot get anywhere because the army is always stopping the campaign."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop

SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesia)
"Indonesia has a lot of corruption. Everybody is corrupt."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop

As a police helicopter hovered overhead, protesters tore down two street signs, threw rocks at police and set fire to piles of tyres on Buncit Raya, a six-lane thoroughfare in central Jakarta.

Estimates by police of the size of the crowd varied from five to 10-thousand.

Shops along the avenue closed, traffic on nearby streets was blocked and thousands of bystanders gathered to watch.

At another big protest in eastern Jakarta, P-P-P supporters shouted party slogans and some lit bonfires at several spots on Otista Raya, another major avenue.

Political analysts quoted by local newspapers describe the outbreaks of violence as the worst since Indonesia's tightly controlled election system was set up in 1971.

The official campaign period ends Friday, when a five-day "cooling off" period is scheduled before the polls.

At stake in the election are 425 seats in the 500-member Parliament, which will help choose Indonesia's president next year.

The other 75 seats are allocated to the military.

The 75 year old President Suharto is expected to seek a seventh consecutive five-year term.

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