Jakarta – Indonesian troops blocked roads near the presidential palace and other strategic sites Friday as 1,200 students staged anti-government rallies. Extra police were also deployed near the US Embassy amid fears of demonstrations in the predominantly Muslim country against the US missile strikes on Iraq.

Several hundred students marched from a campus of the state-run University of Indonesia toward Parliament, some chanting anti-military slogans and carrying bamboo staves. Other pro-democracy protesters drove through the city in buses and gathered at a park and a main intersection.

On Thursday, at least 4,000 students attempted to storm the Parliament building. Hundreds were injured when police and soldiers fired on them with plastic bullets, batons and tear gas.

The huge street battle came just hours after Indonesian President B.J. Habibie warned that the protests could lead to the breakup of the sprawling Southeast Asian nation, the world's fourth most populous country.

On Friday, Habibie repeated his warning and urged Indonesians to exercise restraint. "We still see many cruel actions," the official Antara news agency quoted him as saying at the state palace. "We still see how differences in opinion could lead to conflict involving the masses."

Indonesia is grappling with its worst economic turmoil in decades and has been plagued by political uncertainty. Habibie took over in May from authoritarian President Suharto, who was dislodged by riots and protests against his 32-year rule.

In the disputed territory of East Timor, at least 1,000 protesters demanded independence Friday in Dili ahead of a planned visit by a special envoy from the United Nations.

The UN diplomat, Jamsheed Marker, met in the nearby island of Bali with Indonesian military commanders who oversee East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. Marker was expected to fly to Dili, East Timor's capital, on Saturday in a visit that has heightened fears that demonstrations could degenerate into riots.