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Indonesian police fire water cannons at tsunami victims

Police in the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province fired water cannon yesterday to disperse hundreds of tsunami survivors protesting the slow delivery of aid, witnesses said.

About 200 demonstrators who had besieged the Banda Aceh office of the main tsunami reconstruction agency late on Tuesday were forced to disband after a first attempt to end their protest ended with them hurling rocks at police.

About 1,000 homeless survivors had initially blocked the entrance to the headquarters of the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR), preventing officials from leaving in a bid to force them to agree to disburse swifter aid, a BRR official said on condition of anonymity.

Negotiations between officials and the protesters, organized by a local non-governmental organization (NGO), had stalled late on Tuesday over the way the relief funding would be channeled to them, the official told reporters.

"In principle, their demands have been agreed to by the BRR in writing, but the agreement was rejected by the head of the forum who wants the deal to be struck directly between the NGO and the BRR," the official said.

About 150 police including some paramilitary forces -- many of them armed with batons and plastic shields -- remained on guard around the BRR office while the demonstrators maintained a lookout point across the street.

The head of the agency, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, was due to give a press conference late yesterday.

Indonesia was the nation worst-hit by the December 2004 tsunami, which killed some 168,000 Acehanese.
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