Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian students took to the streets here again Wednesday, and managed for the first time to breach presidential palace security and directly demand that fallen strongman Suharto be brought to trial.

The breakthrough came when some 1,000 students, who had earlier protested at the attorney general's office to demand Suharto be punished for his alleged plunder of the country, caught the outer ring of the palace security apparently unaware.

The students, from the elite Trisakti University, in a convoy of some 16 buses, came unexpectedly from a side street and forced a thin cordon of soldiers to give way. The troops moved armored trucks and barbed wire barricades blocking the road to the Merdeka palace.

Suharto's successor and protege, President B.J. Habibie, who only hours earlier had appealed to the students to quit the streets, was inside the presidential office adjoining the stately white-columned Merdeka palace at the time, witnesses said.

He did not appear, or offer to meet with the students. But palace security allowed 17 student representatives to meet for 90 minutes with a team of his aides in the office of military secretary Vice Marshal Budhy Santoso.

At the meeting with three senior palace officials – the deputy cabinet secretary, the commander of the presidential guard, and Santoso – the students demanded Suharto be taken to court within three days, palace sources and the state Antara news agency said.

The students also demanded armed forces chief General Wiranto be held accountable for recent military violence against students and that probes be conducted into a recent series of riots.

Meanwhile, another convoy of 23 banner-festooned buses carrying some 1,000 students came within 200 metres (yards) of the national parliament.

A law on the public expression of opinion passed by parliament in October banned demonstrations within a radius of 500 metres (1,670 feet) from several "strategic buildings," including both the palace and parliament. The convoy travelled against a one-way sign to close in but was blocked by a thin line of police and soldiers, whose numbers were rapidly reinforced to some 300. The students scuffled briefly with the troops and a rain of stones and sticks were thrown at the soldiers, who only managed to push them back a few metres.

"Reject the 1998 special session of the MPR (the People's Consultative Assembly)," read a large banner carried by the protestors, referring to a legislative assembly they regard as a hang-over of the Suharto era. They continued to press for Habibie to hand over power to a transitional authority.

Another group of some 120 students, also riding on buses, protested briefly at a heavily guarded park in central Jakarta, a short distance from Suharto's residence, before joining the group near parliament.

A separate group of hundreds rallied at a busy downtown roundabout watched by some 200 police and soldiers and cheered by onlookers and passing car drivers. "Habibie is a coward. Keep it up or Suharto will never really be gone," yelled one passing taxi driver.

Earlier Wednesday, at the office of Attorney General Andi Ghalib, the Trisakti students carried posters reading: "Drag Suharto to court," "Hang Suharto," and "Prove you are not a chicken, Ghalib!"

Ghalib was presented with a chicken last week by the Trisakti students, who along with hundreds of others from different universities had managed to occupy the attorney general's office for more than 12 hours.

The attorney general's office has so far found 21 billion rupiah (2.6 million dollars) of Suharto's money in 72 local banks. The investigation into any accounts abroad, which the former president says are non-existent, is still underway.

The attorney general heads a government team tasked to probe the wealth of Suharto and his officials, but critics accuse him of deliberately stalling the investigation, and Habibie of protecting his former mentor.

Documents on millions of hectares (acres) of rainforests, timber concessions, plantations and mines owned by Suharto and his family have been reported by the National Land Agency and officials in provinces across the country, but no legal action against the ousted leader has been taken.