Rod Mickleburgh, Jakarta – Hundreds of armed Indonesian soldiers stormed the parliament buildings here late last night, ending a five-day occupation by university students demanding an end to autocratic rule in the country.

Troops burst through the front doors of the 10-storey building without warning shortly before midnight. Terrified students ran outside, their hands held high in surrender, as soldiers chased them with clubs.

Although some soldiers pointed rifles, no shots were fired.

Except for a few minor scuffles, the students offered no resistance. They displayed the same discipline and peaceful behaviour that had prevailed throughout their unprecedented takeover of the spacious complex containing the national assembly hall and several adjacent buildings.

"We can't fight the army because they have the guns. But we will win in spirit," said Goefron (his only name), moments before boarding one of several dozen buses brought in by the army to transport the students from the area.

There were about 2,000 students in the buildings when the troops charged in, well down from the 30,000 or so that had normally packed the complex during the day.

The students had vowed to stay until the country's iron-fisted autocrat, President Suharto, stepped down.

When Suharto did resign on Thursday, however, the students decided to continue their occupation, since he was replaced by his hand-picked successor, Vice-President B. J. Habibie.

They issued new demands that Mr. Habibie also quit and that a special session of Indonesia's consultative assembly be called to prepare for new elections.

Students were not alone in rejecting Mr. Habibie and his new 36- member cabinet. Only a few cabinet members made the jump from Suharto's team to Mr. Habibie's government. Dismissed by Mr. Habibie was Suharto's controversial daughter, Siti Hardijanti (Tutut) Rukmana, and several Suharto cronies such as tycoon Mohamad (Bob) Hasan.

Government opponent Amien Rais, who originally took a wait-and-see attitude toward the cabinet, adopted a harder line yesterday, arguing that there was too much nepotism in Mr. Habibie's appointments. Analysts found the makeup well short of the quality necessary to confront Indonesia's overwhelming economic and political crises.

"It's largely uninspiring," a Western diplomat said yesterday. "It's not all that different from the last Suharto cabinet, and members do not appear to have a strong sense of reform."

However, the diplomat said Mr. Habibie may take comfort in the fact that his opponents are split.

Some believe he should be given at least few months to demonstrate his ability to govern the world's fourth-most-populous country.

Meanwhile, General Wiranto, reappointed to his posts as defence minister and head of the armed forces, issued a warning to students to end their week-long occupation. When they ignored his warning, he ordered in the troops. "We had to do this because there was damage to the buildings and the members of parliament couldn't do their jobs," a military police officer told The Associated Press. "This was the best way."

Except for some minor ransacking of old parliamentary records that were torn up and used as confetti, however, there was very little damage to any of the areas occupied by the students.

Despite its well-earned reputation for ferocious attacks against political dissidents, the army displayed remarkable restraint during its dramatic nighttime operation, once the students had assembled outside.

After they'd been flushed out of the parliamentary buildings, the students refused to leave the grounds immediately, sitting down in large groups beside the plaza's large, floodlit pool. They demanded to be allowed to march, rather than ride, to the nearby campus. As they waited, they sang patriotic songs, waved flags and continued to call for Mr. Habibie to step down.

"I was a little frightened when the soldiers came in. We just hoped it wouldn't be another tragedy like Tiananmen Square," said Budi Kurniawan, a foreign-language student, referring to Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy activists in 1989.

"Six students have already died [at Trisatki University] because of army shootings," he said. "Students have no power at all, just great numbers."

Another student said he did not feel they had won a victory during their occupation, despite helping to force Suharto's resignation.

"There's still a long way to go to achieve a glorious victory. We are demoralized right now, but we have time and commitment. We'll be back."

Finally, after a two-hour standoff, the army persuaded the students to leave in the buses, and they moved slowly through the parliament's gate. The students linked arms and sang Syukup , one of their country's most patriotic hymns. Many wept, while others bowed their heads as they sang.

Other critics of the government indicated that the end of the student demonstration is not likely to end the debate over Indonesia's political future and the controversial man currently in charge of it.

The old and new presidents "are two different persons, but they are the same package," said Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri, a University of Indonesia professor and a member of an influential group of intellectuals, lawyers, retired generals and former parliamentarians that helped galvanize public opinion against Suharto.

"So when Suharto stepped down and Habibie took his place, nothing changed. It's not acceptable. We also reject his new cabinet. What is needed is to hold national, democratic elections in as short a time as possible."

A Western diplomat said: "There will be continued turbulence for awhile. I can't see the situation continuing as just more of the same way it was under Suharto."

In another development yesterday, Suharto's son-in-law, Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto, was reportedly removed from his powerful post as head of the army's strategic command and given a job in Western Java. Mr. Prabowo was considered a far more ruthless military leader than Gen. Wiranto, and the two were considered fierce rivals within military and political circles.

Also yesterday, the International Monetary Fund, which pulled its staff out of Indonesia last week, announced it is sending its top Asia expert back to the country to review the situation. Hubert Neiss will meet with Mr. Habibie and his economic team next week and report back to the IMF with an assessment of the situation, an IMF spokesman said in Washington.