Protesters Clash Over Future of Wahid

Police fired warning shots Thursday and beat demonstrators at the national parliament, where opposing groups rallied for and against President Abdurrahman Wahid. At least four protesters were injured.

The violence started after police separated the two sides. It was the first violent eruption after days of noisy but peaceful protests over the future of Wahid, widely criticized for involvement in fraud cases, for failing to fix the ailing economy and for not stopping communal violence across the archipelago nation.

Witnesses said some pro-Wahid protesters threw stones at their rivals but also hit some officers, who retaliated. Some protesters attempted to enter the legislature, but were pushed back and dispersed by police.

Wahid, who was elected to office by the parliament 13 months ago after decades of dictatorship, has come under increasing pressure lately from lawmakers to quit.

His popular deputy Megawati Sukarnoputri has said she is ready to become president but not if he is ousted unconstitutionally, news reports said.

Megawati’s party controls the largest share of seats in Indonesia’s legislature but not an outright majority.

Wahid was able to cobble together a coalition of support within the parliament to beat her in a ballot for the presidency in October 1999.

Politically outmaneuvered, Megawati became Wahid’s deputy.

Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia’s founding President Sukarno and a popular pro-democracy figure in her own right, has played a largely ceremonial role in government, although Wahid has recently beefed up her duties.