A demonstration by students from the Arastamar Theological College (Setia) turned violent Tuesday after they clashed with police officers trying to disperse them for causing traffic jams on Jl. S. Parman in West Jakarta.
Some students and police officers were reportedly injured during the incident.
The students were rallying to protest the Supreme Court's decision to grant the Sawerigading Foundation ownership of the land previously used for the West Jakarta municipality office, where the students had been living.
The students were relocated to the office by the administration after they were driven out of their old campus and dormitory in Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta, last year amid a clash with residents in July 2008.
Tanjung Duren Police chief Comr. Jhony Iskandar said police had arrested five students from the rally and were holding them at the West Jakarta Police station.
Setia rector Matheus Mangentang confirmed the arrests.
"So far, we can confirm that five students have been arrested, but that's not the final tally because some students at the rally have not reported back to us yet," he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
Matheus added the police had initially told the students to stop blockading the street as their rally had caused severe traffic gridlock. The protesters refused to comply, reportedly prompting some officers to begin attacking a lec-turer who was believed to have provoked them.
"*The police and students* started hurling plastic chairs and stones at each other," Matheus said.
Police managed to disperse the protesters after firing tear gas in to the crowd.
The students had previously hoped to stay at the office until the city finished paying for their Kampung Pulo campus. But their hopes were dashed after the West Jakarta administration lost the land dispute to Sawerigading.
On appeal, the Supreme Court told the administration to vacate the premises and pay the foundation Rp 40 billion in 29 years' back rent.
The case has forced the Setia students to move out once again.
More than 900 students living at the office have had their electricity and water cut off since Monday, when officers appointed by the West Jakarta District Court began vacating sections of the office.
The administration has offered to house the students at a city-owned office building in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
However, Matheus said the students refused to be relocated to the office, now occupied by the transmigration agency, because it was not suitable for habitation.
"The students now want to go back, temporarily, to their old campus and dormitory, where they can at least bathe and study," he said.
Governor Fauzi Bowo lamented Tuesday's clash.
"I want *the students* to have a proper shelter," he said.
