The Jakarta Metropolitan Police are to deploy 6,000 officers to maintain public order and security during Labor Day rallies in Jakarta on May 1, a spokesman said here Wednesday.

"We are to assign 6,000 officers and they will take up positions in several areas of the national capital ," the head of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police`s Operations Bureau, Commissioner Sujarno, said here Wednesday.

The police officers` positions would be around the State Palace, the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry building and some factories, he said.

"Officers will also be on guard at locations where Labor Day crowds are to form such as the National Monument (Monas) and the Proclamation Statue," Sujarno added.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police would also work together with West Java and Banten police to anticipate the movement of masses into or out of Jakarta on Labor Day.

"Last year, about 10.000 people demonstrated to observe May Day. They were spread in some areas in Jakarta," he said.

Sujarno said he did not know how many people exactly were expected to hit the streets in Jakarta on Labor Day, and referred journalists to the police`s intelligence and security directorate.

"We also work with several labor organizations, one of them is the National Labor Association (SPN)," he said.

Sujarno also said some workers` organizations would mark Labor Day not with street rallies but with more practical activitiees such as planting seedlings, donating blood and playing futsal.

"We also anticipate the possibility of the demonstrations turning wild or violent," he said.
(Uu.KR-FNY/HAJM/O001)