South, West Sulawesi police deploy 12,000 personnel to guard rallies

The South and West Sulawesi Police have deployed around 12,000 personnel to guard rallies held Thursday to mark President Susilo BambangYudhoyono's 100th day in office, tempointeraktif.com reported.

The provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Rochyana said that the police personnel, which measure two-third of the total personnel number in the jurisdiction, would blend in with protesters.

Rallies in the province will be held mainly in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi.

Similar massive rallies are held in other big cities in the country, including the capital Jakarta and Surabaya.

Tens of thousand of people are expected to gather in the rallies to be held at a number of areas in Jakarta, with state palaces were being heavily guarded while Yudhoyono is away to launch a power plant project in Banten, 90 kilometers from the capital.