INDONESIA: STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE AND BUS DRIVERS GO ON STRIKE OVER NATIONAL INCREASE IN FUEL PRICES

Record ID: 342259

  • Title: INDONESIA: STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE AND BUS DRIVERS GO ON STRIKE OVER NATIONAL INCREASE IN FUEL PRICES
  • Date: 18th June 2001
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 18, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF STUDENTS PROTESTING AND WAVING INDONESIAN FLAG OUTSIDE UNIVERSITY IN SOUTH JAKARTA 0.05 2. SMV, STUDENTS SINGING 0.09 3. VARIOUS, OF STUDENTS STANDING AROUND LIGHTED FIRE (2 SHOTS) 0.20 4. GV POLICE HELICOPTER FLYING OVER DEMONSTRATORS 0.27 5. VARIOUS, STUDENTS RUNNING INTO UNIVERSITY COMPLEX AS POLICE FIRE SHOTS 0.44 6. VARIOUS, RIOT POLICE WITH SHIELDS ATTACK UNIVERSITY GATES AS STONES AND MISSILES ARE THROWN BY PROTESTORS 0.49 7. VARIOUS, STUDENTS THROWING MISSILES AS TEAR GAS IS FIRED BY POLICE (4 SHOTS) 1.15 8. VARIOUS, RIOT POLICE FIRING THROWING STONES BACK AT STUDENTS (2 SHOTS) 1.28 9. SLV STUDENTS THROWING ROCKS AND TAUNTING POLICE AT UNIVERSITY GATES 1.35 10. SMV INJURED STUDENT ON STRETCHER 1.41 11. CLOSEUP OF RUBBER BULLET WOUND BEING CLEANED BY MEDICS 1.44 12. SMV (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) STUDENT (UNIDENTIFIED) SAYING: "The fuel price hike must be hand-in-hand with the government's duty to raise the wages of workers and working people in general. The hike at this point in time we see as very irrational." 1.56 13. VARIOUS, MOTORCYCLISTS AND CARS DRIVING PAST BURNING TYRES OUTSIDE A DIFFERENT CAMPUS IN CENTRAL JAKARTA (2 SHOTS) 2.07 14. SMV, STUDENTS STANDING BY BURNING TYRES 2.11 15. SCU STUDENT TALKING ON MEGAPHONE 2.16 16. SLV POLICE WALKING TOWARDS BURNING TYRES 2.21 17. SLV, POLICE PUTTING OUT FIRE 2.30 18. VARIOUS, POLICE WEARING RIOT GEAR (2 SHOTS) 2.41 19. SMV, STRANDED PASSENGERS GETTING ON POLICE TRUCK 2.51 20. SCU POLICE DIRECTING TRAFFIC 2.55 21. WIDE OF POLICE DIRECTING TRAFFIC AS POLICE TRUCK OF PASSENGERS LEAVES 3.00 22. VARIOUS, OF PASSENGERS GETTING OFF MILITARY TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 3.13 23. WIDE OF TRAFFIC 3.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA3I6C22S62B4GCL2PADH5K5UZP
  • Story Text: Indonesian police have fired warning shots and tear
    gas at students protesting over national fuel price hikes in
    Jakarta as angry bus drivers went on strike in six cities
    across the country.



    The students lit fires and blocked streets in a
    south Jakarta suburb, outside their University on Monday (June
    18).

    Police shot over students with rubber bullets and threw
    tear-gas at the protesting students after they refused to
    move. The students retaliated by throwing rocks and other
    missiles at police.

    At least two students were injured by rubber bullets.

    Outside a central Jakarta university campus, students set
    tyres alight and staged a demonstration.

    Police and soldiers have been on high alert in Jakarta and
    two other key Indonesian cities, although the capital has only
    been sporadically affected by striking bus drivers who have
    targeted other parts of the troubled archipelago.

    Most of the protesting drivers have demanded an official
    increase in fares following the 30 percent jump in fuel prices
    late last week, which has already triggered some unrest and
    put more strain on the country's millions of poor. Most people
    in Indonesia depend on public transport.

    "The fuel price hike must be hand-in-hand with the
    government's duty to raise the wages of workers and working
    people in general. The hike at this point in time we see as
    very irrational," said one protester.

    Police, backed up by the military, have put as many as
    42,000 personnel on high alert at economic centres, public
    places, gas stations and other places which are considered hot
    spots around Jakarta.

    Military and police trucks have been parked near bus
    terminals in the capital in anticipation of a full-blown
    strike. Police had to deploy trucks and buses to move stranded
    commuters to offices and schools.

    Violence over fuel prices has added to pressure on
    President Abdurrahman Wahid, facing impeachment in August over
    his erratic 20-month rule. Fuel prices are a thorny issue in
    Indonesia, and sparked riots that helped topple former
    President Suharto in May 1998.

    Indonesia's cabinet agreed to push ahead with the fuel price
    hike on Friday. The rise is part of measures to stem a gaping
    2001 budget deficit that threatens to spiral out of control.

    Oil subsidies were still high despite the increases. The
    subsidy for 2001 is 53.8 trillion rupiah (4.78 billion United
    States dollars).

    Jakarta had also agreed to postpone implementing a labour
    decree that abolished severance pay for retiring and resigning
    workers following violent protests last week over that
    regulation.





  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register