Jakarta – Around 50 supporters of East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres burned an American flag outside the US embassy in Indonesia Thursday to protest Washington's alleged meddling Indonesia's internal affairs.

The demonstrators claimed the US was behind moves by the UN administration in East Timor to prosecute Indonesians alleged to have been involved in the 1999 violence in the territory.

Earlier Thursday, a Jakarta court continued hearing arguments in the trial of Guterres on weapons charges.

The militia commander is accused of ordering his followers last year to take back weapons they had surrendered to police in Indonesian-controlled West Timor as part of a disarmament program.

East Timorese militiamen, aided by parts of the Indonesian military, destroyed much of East Timor in September 1999 after the territory voted in a UN-organized ballot to break free of Indonesian rule.

Guterres is wanted by East Timor's UN administration on charges arising from the those events, but the Indonesian government has refused to extradite him.