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1,000 students to hold rally today: Police
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Cars pass through the iconic Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in the heart of Jakarta on Feb. 24, 2016. Some 1,000 students will conduct a rally in the area on Jan. 12. (thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)
S
ome 1,000 university students are set to stage a rally—they call “Defending People’s Action 121”—in Jakarta on Thursday to express their concerns on soaring staple food prices and the high rates and fees for electricity, driver’s licenses and vehicle registration documents, a police official has said.
“They [students] will number about 1,000,” Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Thursday as reported by kompas.com, adding that students in several cities in the country reportedly would stage similar rallies.
Argo said the students would begin their rally from their respective campuses around Greater Jakarta to then gather at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta before marching to the Presidential Palace.
(Read also: 8 arrested on treason charges ahead of rally)
He said a number of police officers had been prepared to guard the rally, which had been approved until 6 p.m.
“The number of police officers we will be prepare will depend on the situation in the field,” he said, hoping that the rally could run smoothly without any disturbances.
The last massive rally in the capital, which was joined by hundreds of thousands of people, led by conservative Muslim groups, occurred on Dec. 2 in the National Monument (Monas) complex, which ran smoothly. Hours, before the rally, police arrested several political activists for allegedly planning to take advantage of the rally to launch a coup d’état.
Another rally on Nov. 4 led by the same groups ended in violence with two police trucks set on fire and several people, including police officers, being injured in several parts of Jakarta. (jun)
