Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – In response to questions about Governor Fauzi Bowo's statement about limiting the use of the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle, the city administration explained Friday that only stages and tents had been banned from the fountain area.

"It's not the protests we prohibit, but the erecting of tents at the HI circle. It clearly takes up space on the street and disturbs the traffic," city secretary Muhayat told The Jakarta Post on Friday, adding that protesters could still use loudspeakers.

He said the prohibition applied to all events and was not restricted to demonstrations.

Last Sunday Fauzi said that he would not allow the city landmark to be damaged or dirtied at public events. Fauzi also asked Jakarta residents not to organize any inappropriate events at the HI traffic circle, especially gatherings with limited benefits for the public.

Usman Hamid, an anticorruption activist from Kompak, said the governor should review the ban of using tents or stages during protests because he said such equipment was necessary.

"We still need tents to build a stage because our protests now mostly involve singers and performers. During the rainy season, we need to protect the sound system from water too," he said over the phone.

He said the ban actually represented a fear of freedom. "This policy seems to have been made in a rush, right when the public momentum to push for the Century case to be solved is getting stronger," Usman said.

He said it would be better if the government replaced the ban with detailed rules on permitted tent sizes and sound system volume.

He said a previous protest, dubbed "Indonesia Sehat Tanpa Korupsi" (Indonesia Healthy Without Corruption) on Nov. 2, which used a stage and a tent for musical performances, ran peacefully and successfully.

A number of public order officers did not allow the activists to erect a stage during a similar protest on Nov. 29.

The governor, Usman said, should realize that people needed strategic spots in the city to express their aspirations because Jakarta was the center of many fields, including economics and politics.