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Moslem students rally to protest prices

Source
Agence France Presse - June 22, 1998 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta – About 500 Moslem students rallied outside parliament here Monday to protest against rising prices of food staples, witnesses said.

"Lower prices... people are hungry" read one banner waved by the students, who also carried national flags and those of their universities and Moslem boarding schools. About 30 soldiers blocked the students entry into the parliamentary complex, while 30 MPs stood by watching the rally. There were no reports of violence.

Busloads of students from outside Jakarta were continuing to arrive at the parliament in the early afternoon as the demonstrators chanted Moslem prayers.

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