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AKARTA: Three university students were admitted to hospital due to injuries received after allegedly being beaten by police dispersing a demonstration on Saturday.

The students, two of them female, were part of a demonstration held in front of the State Palace in solidarity with Sondang Hutagalung, a university student who died after setting himself on fire at the same spot on Dec. 7.

“This is more than just commemorating the seventh day since Sondang’s death,” the protest’s spokesperson Faren Sadou told The Jakarta Post. “It’s an attempt to awaken the public … We have to change, truth and justice must be upheld.”

Sondang, a student of Bung Karno University, died on Dec. 10 after receiving burns to 97 percent of his body.

He reportedly staged the protest urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono to step down over their failure to provide justice in Indonesia.

Faren said that they would not go home until the president opened his ears and listened to their demands. “We will stay here to protest every single day until the government responds to our demands.”

There have been several demonstrations in Sondang’s name in Jakarta during the past week. Apart from Saturday’s protest, another protest has been ongoing in front of the House of Representatives for the last few days.

A demonstration for Sondang held in front of his campus on Wednesday ended in chaos as 200 students violently clashed with police.