Protesters, Police Clash in Indonesia

Indonesian police fired tear gas and swung batons Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters who marched on the presidential palace to demand political reform.

About 1,300 students protested in various parts of Jakarta, the capital. Groups of them tried to march on the ornate, white-columned presidential palace, chanting “Reform or revolution!”

At least three protesters were hospitalized, and dozens more sustained minor injuries in the clash with police.

For weeks, students have been holding street protests demanding that President B. J. Habibie speed up reforms to force the military out of politics and put former President Suharto, his predecessor, on trial for corruption.

They are the heaviest protests since mass demonstrations forced Suharto out of power in May after 32 years of autocratic rule. Riot police Wednesday also battled about 500 students who entered the grounds of the Defense Ministry near the presidential palace and threw rocks and bricks at soldiers. About two dozen protesters were detained.

Habibie was away in Vietnam for a summit of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations.

Also Wednesday, a strike by public transportation drivers became a riot when mobs threw rocks and looted Chinese-owned shops in Samarinda on the island of Borneo, northeast of Jakarta on Java island. Police detained 26 people.