JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesians rallied nationwide Thursday against a planned fuel price hike they say will cause great hardship, as the parliament prepared to vote on the proposal. Indonesian workers chant outside the parliament during a rally against the government's plan to hike fuel prices in Jakarta. Thousands of Indonesians rallied nationwide against a planned fuel price hike they say will cause great hardship, as the parliament prepared to vote on the proposal.
The government says that with global oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel, the nation can't afford to maintain heavy subsidies, and parliament was expected to approve raising the fuel price by a third on Friday.
Demonstrations have occurred almost daily in recent weeks, sometimes turning violent, but turnout in the capital Jakarta Thursday was much lower than organisers had promised.
Around 14,000 police and 8,000 soldiers were deployed at key locations, including parliament house, the presidential palace and the international airport.
But only a few thousand protesters turned up, while across the country 26,500 people joined demonstrations in various cities, said national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution, a modest number for a nation of 240 million.
"This is a wicked government who doesn't care about the people's welfare," Irwan Saifullah, a 42-year-old teacher, told AFP outside the presidential palace.
"My kids will have to drink less milk and we'll all eat less rice," he said among protesters dancing around a truck blaring music. Around half of Indonesia's population live on less than $2 a day.
The government has said that without hiking the fuel price, the cost of subsidies will push the country's budget deficit above the three percent of GDP cap stipulated by law.
But disgruntled Indonesians have turned out to major cities across the country, fearing the hike -- from Rp 4,500 (49 cents) to Rp 6,000 per litre -- will push up prices of everyday items.
In Makassar city on Sulawesi island, around 1,000 students blocked several main roads and burnt a banner bearing pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Local TV stations showed images of protesters outside local parliament in Pekanbaru city on Sumatra island hurling stones at police, who responded by striking crowd members with batons and letting off a water cannon.
Around 2,000 members of Hizbut Tahrir -- a prominent religious group in Indonesia which is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation -- demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Jakarta.
Men wearing Muslim caps and women in headscarves chanted "Replace, replace this rubbish system" and carried banners saying "Reject the fuel price hike! Rulers are liars, wicked and traitors".
"Capitalism and imperialism will only put people in misery as foreigners have always exploited countries with rich natural resources like Indonesia," the group's spokesman Ismail Yusnanto said.
"Everything will become more expensive, which will create a burden. It just means misery,", added Nining Elitos, chairman of the Indonesian Trade Unions Alliance.
"Those with big families and children in school will suffer the most. The move will only cause social problems, raise crime rates and stress levels."
Planned mass rallies in the capital fizzled Tuesday, with 22,000 security personnel overseeing just 3,500 protesters. But almost 10,000 people showed up in other cities including Medan in Sumatra island and Surabaya in eastern Java.
Some rallies turned violent as hundreds of protesters pelted rocks, petrol bombs and sticks at police, who fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd
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