Riot police break up Jakarta riot

Riot police in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, have arrested about a-hundred marchers protesting against recent price rises.

Police moved in when the demonstrators blocked a main street.

The security forces have been training to break up demonstrations in the run-up to elections in March, when President Suharto will be seeking a seventh term of office.

A BBC correspondent in the region says that discontent at what's perceived as economic mismanagement by a corrupt elite has the potential to destabilise the world's fourth most populous nation.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service