Police on Wednesday fired volleys of teargas at 2,000 protestors who had gathered outside parliament calling on Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to answer corruption charges.
“There were no casualties,” an AFP reporter said, and the demonstrators briefly fell back before regrouping on a road running past the main gate of the parliament complex.
The protestors, some with headbands and banners, had stared arriving at the complex in the center of Jakarta at around 10:00 am (0830 IST).
Most said they were not calling for the President to step down, but to answer charges of corruption before a parliamentary commission.
The commission is seeking to question Wahid over a 3.9 million dollar embezzlement scam allegedly pulled off by his masseur, and the fate of a two million dollar donation from the Sultan of Brunei, which the president claimed was a personal gift.

Bureau Report