http://melbourne.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=45057&group=webcast
Indonesian protesters unswayed by McDonald's
defence
Indonesian protesters have rallied outside McDonald's
restaurants in Java in protest at the US-led war in Iraq, unswayed by the
fast food chain's assertion that its local outlets have benefited
Indonesians.
"We warn Indonesians to shun American products because a portion of
the profits goes to Israel," a protester told Elshinta radio during
a demonstration outside a McDonald's at Semarang in Central Java.
The demonstrators threw away hundreds of leaflets handed out by the
McDonald's management there, which said "McDonald's Indonesia has
grown in the hands of Indonesian sons and daughters".
"Whatever they say it's still an American product," one
protester said.
McDonald's and other US-franchised outlets have been a target for
demonstrators since the US-led attack on Iraq began on March 20.
Hundreds of Indonesians have staged other demonstrations in several
cities, with United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan as well as
US President George Bush coming in for criticism.
More than 1,000 members of the Muslim-based Justice Party shouted
"God is Great" and "USA go to hell" during a noisy
protest at Makassar in South Sulawesi, ElShinta reported.
About 100 people from the Alliance of Muslim Students picketed a
McDonald's at Yogyakarta in Central Java, urging Mr Annan to resign as UN
secretary-general.
"Kofi Annan must resign because he has no power over Bush - we
reject all forms of imperialism," one said.
Protesters also urged Indonesia to sever ties with the United States and
called for a boycott of US goods.
In Jakarta dozens of people massed outside the UN mission and similarly
called for Mr Annan to step down.
They held anti-war posters, including several reading "the UN has no
power".
At Mataram on Lombok Island demonstrators urged the UN to "try with
any means necessary" to stop the war in Iraq.
They later set fire to an effigy of Bush.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government has denounced the
US-led invasion of Iraq as an illegal act of aggression but has warned
protesters against violent demonstrations.
