Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian students shouting "reject Suharto" rallied at two campuses Wednesday to demand the resignation of their country's veteran ruler, witnesses said.

More than 3,000 students in Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta marched in the campus grounds throughout the morning, waving banners making the same demand before assembling to hear speeches by their leaders. Some of the banners depicted the ruling party Golkar's logo of a tree on a yellow background above a caption comparing the party to a spectre haunting the country.

Five East Timorese students clambered onto a balcony above the crowd to shout demands for political equlity and justive for their conflict-torn territory.

Dozens of demonstrations have been held at university campuses across the country in recent days as an electoral committee (sic) meets in Jakarta to return Suharto to office for a seventh term, despite growing calls for him to step down.

Authorities have banned public gatherings during the meeting but have been tolerant of students protests as long as they remain on university grounds.

In Surabaya, East Java, about 200 students ralied at the Surabaya Islamic Institute to demand Suharto's resignation.

Some 5,000 students at the Teachers University in the South Sulawaei capital of Ujungpandang marched between their two campuses under tight security, Suara Pembaruan, a Jakarta daily reported. More than a thousand other students of the Muslim University of Indonesia, also in Unjungpandang, marched to the provincial parliament building to express their concern over the economic crisis faced by the nation, the same paper reported.