Jakarta Police: officers forced to fire shots

The Jakarta Police said Thursday that officers were forced to fire warning shots, which injured a student, to disperse a rally which turned violent Wednesday in Central Jakarta.

Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, the police spokesman, said that the students were attacking the police when the police were trying to direct the students to their campus to keep the rally in order.

Amar said that the protest rally, held to mark President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first anniversary in his second term, was not reported to the authorities.

The students burned tires and blocked Jl. Diponegoro during the rally. Amar said that the police and students had agreed that the rally should end at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The police said they were still investigating the incident.