Jakarta – Thousands of students rallied in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province, on Friday to demand an independent state of Sulawesi, police and television reports said.
The protest was the first outbreak of separatist unrest in the country since Indonesia's new President Abdurrahman Wahid took office two days ago and came less than two months after the territory of East Timor voted for independence.
The 15,000 protesters, many waving green flags bearing a map of Sulawesi island, gathered at the Mandala Monument square in Makassar, a correspondent for the private SCTV televison said in a telephone report aired in Jakarta.
"We are against anarchy because we're not Megawati supporters," read one of their banners, refering to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was sworn into office Thursday night. "God willing, soon the Eastern Indonesian State will be declared."
After saying Friday prayers, the protestors headed for the local station of the Radio Republic Indonesia to have their demand for independence broadcast, but were refused entry, a policeman reached by telephone told AFP.
But the state Antara news agency said they broke through the security cordon and took turns broadcasting their demands. Another group of students also tried to get inside the state television TVRI but were prevented by the security forces.
The protest was triggered in part by the failure of former president B.J. Habibie, a native of South Sulawesi, to win a second term after being forced to bow out of the race by an effective vote of no confidence from parliament.
"Apparently those people are angry because Mr. Habibie was not elected president," said Albar, a Makassar policeman. Security forces were present but made no effort to disperse the crowd.
The SCTV reporter said columns of smoke hung over the city from tires burned on Thursday when news of the elections reached the city. No footage of the incident was aired in Jakarta.
In the capital, a dealer at a local brokerage said the Sulewesi rally helped weaken market sentiment after an early surge in reaction to the formation of a new government.
He said the demand for independence for Sulawesi could become a first test for the new government on how to deal with similar demands from several restive provinces in the country such as Aceh.