Indonesian police fired warning shots yesterday as supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid broke into the grounds of parliament where legislators demanded he face impeachment hearings over his chaotic rule.
Water-filled plastic barricades blocked the protesters from reaching the parliament building and soon after dusk they began to disperse, making their way to the presidential palace.
The protesters, some hugging police, said they would ask Wahid to dissolve parliament, which was still meeting and is expected to formally vote on sending the president to an impeachment hearing later in the evening.
"I want you to clear out because the parliament cannot be trusted any more," protest field commander Nujib Imron told the crowd.
"Let us go together to the palace to ask for an [emergency] decree for the sake of the nation's unity. We will force the president to make the decree to dissolve the parliament."
If such a decree is issued, Wahid can also call elections to stave off impeachment.
In Wahid's political heartland of East Java, police fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of his supporters and troops were parachuted in to help keep the area under control. One protester was killed.
The threat of violence is one of the last options left in Wahid's bid to cling to power and he had said he would declare a state of emergency, giving him the power to dissolve parliament, if MPs pressed ahead with their challenge.
A palace spokesman said Wahid would not resign and had again urged MPs to drop their calls that he face impeachment hearings in a special session of the supreme legislature, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). "There is no plan at all for the president to resign," Yahya Staquf said.
Asked about threats by Wahid to declare a state of emergency, he said: "The president will wait until the process in parliament is concluded."
Before the police issued their deadline, witnesses said 5,000 Wahid supporters waving banners and carrying sticks -- many with toothpaste smeared on their faces to ward off the effects of tear gas -- had gathered outside the gates of the heavily defended parliament.
"If a special session is imposed, Indonesia will become Yugoslavia," an impassioned speaker cried to chants of "freedom" from the crowd.
"The country will split apart. Madura will be independent. East Java will be independent. Nusa Tenggara Barat [several east Indonesian islands] will be independent."
There had been an almost carnival atmosphere, with hawkers pushing carts selling soft drinks and fried rice, until the shots were fired and police reinforcements were rushed in.
Jakarta police chief Sofjan Jacoeb said his men were not using live bullets. "Police have blanks. These [the protesters] are our people."
But other police sources said the second line of officers were armed with live ammunition.
Aides say Megawati -- who will take over if Wahid is ousted -- will reject an offer made late last week for her to become effective head of government, a move Wahid hoped would stave off the impeachment move.
MPs had already said they would take two previous censures a step further by calling yesterday for a special session of the MPR to start the impeachment hearings.
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