News

Students block street outside campus to protest fuel price hikes

NU Online  ·  Selasa, 27 Mei 2008 | 08:13 WIB

Jakarta, NU Online
Indonesian Christian University (UKI) students continued to block Jalan Majyen Sutoyo, the street in front of their campus in the Cawang area, East Jakarta, on Tuesday in protest against the government`s decision to raise fuel oil prices.

Some of the students sat and others lay on the pavement of the street, according to the Jakarta Police`s Traffic Management Center here on Tuesday (27/5).r />
The UKI students had been blocking the street since Monday evening when they also burned tires. Antara reported.

The students` action caused a severe congestion on Monday evening and the traffic jam had been expected to get worse on Tuesday morning when people would rush to work.

The police diverted traffic between the Cililitan area and Cawang to an alternative route in Jalan Dewi Sartika.

The UKI students started their street blocking action at around 3 pm local time on Monday when they also burned tires and threw rocks at policemen in front of their campus.

The police officers, however, did not react to the stone throwing and tire burning, unlike last Friday (May 23) when they counter-attacked National University (UNAS) students who had pelted them with stones as they were resting outside the UNAS campus. The police then even chased students who had retreated into their campus and detained more than 100 of the latter. (dar)