Associated Press

November 12, 1994

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Student demonstrators marked the third anniversary of a massacre in East Timor by invading the U.S. Embassy grounds Saturday.

About 30 were sitting quietly in the compound outside the embassy building in hot midday sun, after demanding to see senior U.S. officials to discuss human rights.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in Jakarta for a economic summit of Pacific rim nations, was not in the building. President Clinton is expected in the capital on Sunday.

One demonstrator shouted to reporters that he was Domingos Sarmento of the "national resistance of East Timor." He said they were from universities in Java and Bali.

No signs could be seen and it was not clear whether they wanted to present a petition.

Indonesian guards employed by the embassy watched the demonstrators who were in a parking area between the perimeter fence and an inner security building. No U.S. Marines, who have a guard post at the inner building, could be seen.

Two demonstrators were arrested earlier, one of whom was cut while climbing over the outer fence, Police Lt. T. Agus told The Associated Press.

AP reporter Mohamad Asrun said some of the students were demanding the release of former guerrilla leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao, who was arrested in 1992. He is serving a 20-year prison term for his role in heading an armed rebellion for a separate East Timor state.

Saturday is the third anniversary of a massacre of scores of unarmed civilians by soldiers at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, the East Timorese capital.

A government inquiry put the death toll at around 50, with 91 injured and 57 unaccounted for. Independent sources say more than 200 died.

Indonesia annexed the territory in 1976, after intervening in a civil war the previous year that broke out after East Timor was abandoned by Portugal.

Although Jakarta insists that the hand-picked East Timorese representatives in this "process of decolonization" chose independence through integration with Indonesia, the United Nations has never recognized the move.

Human rights groups say Indonesian troops have killed hundreds of pro-independence demonstrators in East Timor, a charge Jakarta denies.

END QUOTE