Students stitch lips to protest fuel prices in Jakarta

Jakarta: Two Indonesian students had their lips stitched and joined a protest rally by about 20 students on a Jakarta campus on Sunday to press the government to reverse a recent rise in domestic fuel prices.

The government raised fuel prices by almost 30 per cent last month, sparking protests in a country where millions are already suffering from rising energy and food costs.

Nando Sidabutar, a spokesman of Forum Kota, a university students movement, "We will stay on track to demand the cancellation of the hike."

The government says it has no choice but to progressively trim fuel subsidies that cost billions of dollars a year and have become impossible to fund as global oil prices soar.