Ambon – Thousands of people marched through a city in eastern Indonesia on Tuesday demanding the north of the troubled Moluccas become a separate province, witnesses said.

The student-backed movement brought the town to a halt in Ternate, some 2,400 km northeast of Jakarta. Witnesses put the number at more than 5,000.

There was no violence, although about 200 police and military were on guard as the demonstrators marched to an important local government building.

"The situation is safe and under control," local military commander Lieutenant-Colonel Slamet Riyadi told Reuters.

Indonesia's Moluccas islands have been torn by months of communal violence that has killed hundreds, mostly around the spice islands capital of Ambon.

Most of the violence has occurred in the south and centre of the Moluccas. Ternate is one of the main towns of the north.

The government recently announced a plan to divide the province in two. The neighbouring province of Irian Jaya would also be divided into three under the plan.