Indonesia Raises Fuel Prices By 33% To Avoid Budget Collapse, Sparking Rioting - AFP

JAKARTA - Angry students hurled molotov cocktails at police after Indonesia hiked the cost of gasoline by 33 percent Saturday to rein in subsidies that are exploding along with world oil prices.

More than 100 protesters were arrested as students burned tires and threw homemade fire-bombs outside the National University in Jakarta in response to the midnight price hike, police said.

Other rallies broke out in the second city of Surabaya, where students commandeered a fuel truck from state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, and in Bandung where hundreds of hardline Muslims marched through the streets.

The price hike took effect at midnight in response to soaring global oil prices and a ballooning subsidy bill that is straining the budget and sucking state funds away from basic services and infrastructure. Long queues formed at petrol stations ahead of the announcement Friday and 26 demonstrators were arrested at a protest at the presidential palace overnight.

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