Yogyakarta – Twelve students were arrested by Yogyakarta Police on Saturday following a protest against the political elite to mark the visit of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri to the Gedung Agung on Jl. Ahmad Yani here in the afternoon.

They were arrested around 2 p.m. after marching from the Indonesian Islamic University on Jl. Cik Di Tiro to the Gedung Agung, where Megawati made a brief stopover to rest after visiting Mount Merapi, an active volcano near Magelang, some 30 kilometers from here.

Some of the protesters marched along the streets while many others rode on motorbikes and reportedly tried to breach the security cordon in front of the Gedung Agung. "Suddenly, the police charged the protesters and it became chaotic. Many of the students fled while 12 were arrested," a local journalist said.

The protesters were demanding that all four political leaders, President Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung resign from their respective posts.

As of 5 p.m., the students were still being detained by Yogyakarta Police. "We hope the police will release them by midnight ... some of us were also injured during the incident," said Basyar, a protest coordinator for HMI-MPO, a splinter group of the Indonesian Muslim Student Association (HMI).

The eight arrested students were from the Yogyakarta State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN Yogyakarta), identified as Nanang Kosim, Yusrim Toha, Ihwan Mustofa, Taufik Simandjuntak, Lasunadin, Thomas Herlando, Ade Asad, Al Sahrowi; two others, Gaguk Suprapto and Okte, were from the Yogyakarta Institute of Agriculture and the other two, named Prayogi and Alan, were from Yogyakarta's Muhammadiyah University.