Supporters of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid converged on his presidential palace on Thursday to demand he dissolve parliament after it began moves to impeach him.
With Wahid running out of options, hundreds of heavily armed soldiers held about 1,000 of his supporters at bay just outside the palace gates one day after parliament voted to call on the country's top legislature to hold an impeachment hearing.
"We demand you dissolve parliament without hesitation," one loyalist leader screamed through a microphone. "Do it as soon as possible because inside it (parliament) are people who want to tear this country apart."
Speculation had been rife that Wahid, a Muslim cleric, would carry out his threat to declare a state of emergency and dissolve parliament if legislators went ahead with what was effectively a no-confidence vote on his chaotic 19-month rule.
That threat and the spectre of violence from his fanatical loyalists are about the only options Wahid has left.
"He only can pray now," said Kusnanto Anggoro, analyst at the independent Centre of Strategic and International Studies.
When asked if Wahid would declare an emergency, Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab said: "I think this is something which is out of the question right now. I think the priority is to try to forge and initiate a compromise."
Wahid's chief security minister urged the near-blind cleric, the first Indonesian to win a contested presidential ballot, not to declare an emergency.
"Issuing a decree in a situation like this is not appropriate and we hope this decision will not be taken," Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono said after meeting military chiefs who have told Wahid that they would not implement such an order -- JAKARTA (Reuters)
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