Yogyakarta – Around 100 activists from the group People’s Solidarity for Aceh (Solidaritas Rakyat untuk Aceh) held a street action in Yogyakarta, Central Java, on Thursday February 26. As well as demanding an end to marshal law in Aceh they also called for the release of a number of activists who are currently being held by theceh emergency military command (PDMD).

The action began at the Yogyakarta Monument at around 10am. They then marched through Jalan P. Mangkubumi entering Jalan Malioboro ending up at the intersection in front of the Yogyakarta central post offices. As they passed the Yogyakarta regional parliament building, they stopped for a moment to hold speeches in front of the parliamentary building’s gates. They intentionally did not to enter the parliament building grounds choosing to continue the rally to the central post office via Jalan Malioboro.

They said that marshal law had cause the people of Aceh to feel unsafe because they have been forced to abandon their homes. They also demanded the release of a number of pro-democracy activist who are currently being held by PDMD in Aceh. The demonstrators said that their collages, including those from the Peace Crisis Centre, are still being detained and had yet to be released.

There was no special escort or security by the police although the street action did disrupt traffic along the route.

[Translated by James Balowski.]