Jakarta – Police arrested some 35 students taking part in demonstrations here Monday to demand a faster investigation of former president Suharto.

In one demonstration outside the forestry ministry, next to the parliament building, 35 students from the Protesting People's Action Alliance (Alarm) called for Suharto to face trial.

"Try Suharto and his cronies before the (June 7) elections," the group said in a press release.

About 100 military and police anti-riot troops surrounded the students and prevented them from moving, and an hour later hurded them into police trucks, an AFP reporter said.

Some 150 students of the Communication Forum of University Students in Jakarta (FKSMJ) picketed the office of Attorney General Andi Ghalib, calling on him to step down over the pace of the investigation into Suharto.

"Ghalib quit" and "Investigate Suharto thoroughly" read placards waved by the students as police stood by.

"If Ghalib doesn't come and face us today, then we'll come back tomorrow," one student screamed outside the building.

They then marched to the defence ministry to call for a reduced military role in politics, but later dispersed.

The FKSMJ protest came two weeks after a weekly magazine, Panji, published the contents of an alleged telephone conversation between President B.J. Habibie and Ghalib.

In the transcript, the contents of which Habibie has not denied, the two appeared to be discussing ways not to inconvenience Suharto by the probe, launched last year, into the alleged wealth he accumulated during his 32 years in power.