Protests have resumed in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, after the death of a motorcycle taxi driver hit by a police vehicle during a demonstration over a range of cost-of-living issues.
Affan Kurniawan was killed on Thursday after an armoured police vehicle ran into him outside Indonesia’s House of Representatives, as riot police were dispersing crowds who had gathered to demand higher wages, lower taxes and the removal of allowances for politicians.
list 1 of 4
US ends tariff exemption for delivery packages valued at $800 or less
list 2 of 4
The Take: How Israeli spy veterans are shaping US Big Tech
list 3 of 4
South Korea indicts former first lady for bribery, ex-PM over martial law
list 4 of 4
China seeks stronger ties with Brazil to resist ‘bullying’ on world stage
end of list
Motorcycle taxi drivers gathered outside Jakarta Mobile Brigade Corps headquarters on Friday to protest against Kurniawan’s death, and students urged protesters to rally later outside police headquarters in the capital city.
President Prabowo Subianto called for calm, expressed condolences for the death of Kurniawan, and ordered a thorough probe of the incident.
“I am shocked and disappointed by the excessive actions of the officers,” Prabowo said in a video message, adding, “I have ordered a thorough and transparent investigation … and officers involved must be held accountable.”
As Thursday’s protest persisted into the night, local media reported that riot police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse people.
The capital’s police chief, Asep Edi Suheri, said that during the clashes, an armoured police vehicle hit and killed Kurniawan, who worked for ride-sharing services Gojek and Grab.
The driver’s family and a motorcycle drivers’ association said Kurniawan was not involved in the protests.
“As police chief and on behalf of the entire unit, I would like to express my deepest apologies and condolences,” he said in a news conference late on Thursday.
Advertisement
Tens of thousands of people, including many students and workers, have taken to the streets in Jakarta and other cities this week to demonstrate against a new monthly housing allowance for politicians worth 20 times more than the minimum wage in some parts of the country.
The demonstrators are also protesting against low wages, government funding cutbacks and job cuts in the textile industry.
Abigail Limura, cofounder of the social media platform What Is Up, Indonesia?, told Al Jazeera that the protests are a “culmination of months of not only economic but also political frustration all over the country”.
“We are in the middle of a worsening economy, collapsing job market, where thousands have been laid off. And instead of compassion, these people are continually met with indifference and even sometimes tone-deaf and insulting responses,” she said.
Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said protesters were also angry about the long-running issue of police brutality and the heavy-handed response by police this week to demonstrations.
“The case of the motorbike taxi driver is just one of so many cases of excessive use of force by police. There are too many cases across Indonesia, including West Papua,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are constantly receiving credible reports such as use of firearms, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and also extrajudicial killing.”
Major protests have been staged outside of Jakarta’s police headquarters and legislature, while The Jakarta Post reported that protesters have also vandalised public facilities and lit several cars on fire.
British Caribbean News
