(14 Oct 1999) Natural Sound
Separate protests took place in Jakarta on Thursday, hours before President B-J Habibie was to deliver a key speech to legislators who will choose Indonesia's next head of state.
In one protest, police fired tear gas at thousands of students throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails outside parliament.
Three students were taken away by police and a number of protesters were injured.
In another demonstration, protesters threw as many as two dozen petrol bombs and rocks at the Australian embassy in anger at that country's leading peacekeeping role in East Timor.
Witnesses said a mob of about 300 people gathered outside the Australian mission's six-metre (20-foot) high steel fence.
Several bombs cleared the barrier but exploded harmlessly in the embassy grounds, burning grass and plants.
There was no major damage to the embassy itself.
Witnesses said about 200 police in riot gear stood by and watched but took no action against the crowd.
Protests have occurred almost every day near the embassy since Australian forces led a peacekeeping force into East Timor on September 20 to restore order.
Jakarta was also rocked by several other anti-government demonstrations on Thursday, including one by supporters of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.
The Megawati supporters gathered at the main roundabout in the capital, where they warned they would launch a revolution if B-J Habibie won the assembly vote for president.
In June, Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle finished first in the country's freest and fairest election in 44 years.
But the party failed to win a majority in the 700-seat People's Consultative Assembly.
Since then, Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding leader Sukarno, has had trouble forming alliances with other opposition parties in her bid for the presidency.
On Thursday night, Habibie delivered his "accountability" speech to legislators who will soon choose Indonesia's next head of state.
In his address, he outlined his achievements and shortcomings during the 16 months since he took office from Suharto, who had ruled with an iron fist for 32 years.
Suharto was driven from power by large and violent student protests throughout Indonesia.
In addition to Habibie and Megawati, the assembly has one other presidential candidate it could choose, Abdurrahman Wahid, the head of the nation's largest Islamic group.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation.
It is also the world's fourth most populous country, spread out across its 13-thousand islands.
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