Jakarta – Thirty-three East Timorese entered the Austrian embassy compound in Jakarta on Tuesday, demanding a meeting with visiting U.N. special envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker.

Unfurling banners, including one saying "Viva Timor Leste" (Long Live East Timor), they scaled the embassy gate and asked embassy officials to set up a meeting with Marker, who returned to Jakarta on Monday after a three-day visit to East Timor.

"We are here, 33 of us, inside the embassy. We want the embassy to become a mediator for us to meet the U.N. envoy," the group's spokesman Mariano Sabino Lopez told Reuters from inside the embassy compound.

"We want to make it clear that we are not seeking asylum. We want to stay here until our demand is met. We may want to stage a hunger strike if necessary," he said.

At least 20 policemen were seen outside the embassy soon after the Timorese, who claimed to have come from several cities on the islands of Java and Bali, entered the compound.

An employee at the embassy said officials were not available for comment.

Since September 1995, 108 East Timorese have entered foreign embassies in Jakarta and asked for asylum. They have been granted asylum in Portugal, the former colonial ruler of East Timor.