Indonesian students and workers have clashed with police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, as protesters gathered across the country to oppose rises in fuel and electricity charges.

Some protesters in a crowd of more than 1,000 people outside the palace threw rocks at police, witnesses said.

Police beat some protesters with bamboo sticks to disperse the crowd.

Cut the prices, remove Mega Protester, Surabaya

The government raised fuel prices by 22% on 1 January, as well as increasing electricity and telephone charges.

Critics have accused the government of abandoning the poor, but the government says it has no choice but to remove the hefty subsidies which have persisted in Indonesia for years.

It was the fourth straight day of protests, but by Thursday afternoon the number of people protesting was well short of the national stoppage that organisers had called for.

President stands firm

Largely peaceful demonstrations involving more than 100 people were reported in more than a dozen cities, including Denpasar in Bali and Ambon in the Moluccan islands.

Students are planning more protests on Friday

In a rare show of unity, busloads of businessmen joined hundreds of unionists in Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya.

Three demonstrators were reportedly injured in scuffles with police, Reuters reported.

"Cut the prices, remove Mega," shouted one protester, referring to President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Housewives banged pots and pans during a protest by about 2,000 people at the South Sumatra provincial parliament in Palembang, El Shinta radio reported.

In the central Java city of Semarang, hundreds of public transport drivers joined students in protests, while about 2,000 students in the central Sulawesi town of Palu called for Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz to resign.

The president has shown no sign of giving in to the protesters, arguing that parliament approved the charges last year.

Sharp rises in fuel prices at the height of the financial crisis in May 1998 triggered rioting which contributed to the fall of the then-President Suharto.

Since then, the government has brought in a series of further price hikes which have prompted protests, but not serious rioting.

In addition to the 22% fuel hike, electricity charges went up by 6% on 1 January, with three further quarterly increases of 6% due this year. Telephone charges were also increased by an average of 15%.

The government has allocated 3.1 trillion rupiah ($346m) as financial aid for the poor to compensate for the price rises. Kerosene, widely used by the poor as a cooking fuel, remains heavily subsidised for domestic use.