After Police Ran Over And Killed A Delivery Driver During Mass Protests, Indonesians Are Demanding Justice
Protesters stormed and torched local parliament buildings across the country.
Indonesian police ran over and killed a delivery driver on a motorcycle during mass anti-government protests, fueling even bigger protests.
The protests first began on Monday, Aug. 25 after lawmakers approved a new monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah (US $3,000) for themselves on top of their salaries, which is nearly 10 times Jakarta’s minimum wage.
The move sparked widespread anger as Indonesians are facing high inflation, low wages, rising unemployment and taxes.
On Thursday, Aug. 27, as protesters gathered outside the parliament in Jakarta, police ran over with an armored vehicle a 21-year-old delivery driver, later identified as Affan Kurniawan, who had just finished delivering food, killing him instantly, , according to Al Jazeera.
Video of the moment has since gone viral online, fueling further anger, with protests spreading across the country and becoming the biggest against President Prabowo Subianto’s government since he took office nearly a year ago.
Protesters stormed and torched local parliament buildings across the country, clashing with police, who used tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators.
Authorities said that at least three people were killed in an arson attack on a parliament building in Makassar, the capital of the South Sulawesi province, on Friday, Aug. 29.
Prabowo said he was “shocked and disappointed by the excessive actions of the officers“ and visited Kurniawan’s family on Friday, adding that an investigation was underway.
His office announced on Saturday, Aug. 30, that he had canceled a trip to China in order to “monitor [the situation in Indonesia] directly… and seek the best solutions,” Al Jazeera reported.
Authorities have said seven police members have been “found to have violated the police professional code of ethics” and placed on leave, according to BBC.
TikTok also announced on Saturday that it had suspended its live feature in Indonesia for “the next few days”, saying it was taking “additional security measures to keep TikTok a safe and civil space” in light of the “increasing violence in protests in Indonesia.
Indonesia has one of the world’s biggest audiences on TikTok, with more than 100 million users, and people had been using the app to document the protests, as well as the police crack down on protesters.
Amnesty International told Al Jazeera that the government seemed more interested in ensuring it has “full control of the narratives [and] full control of the protests, instead of addressing the real concerns that people have”.
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Sofia Hou
Joanna Lee
