Three dead as Indonesian protesters set fire to regional parliament building

MAKASSAR: Three people died and five were injured in Indonesia after protesters set fire to a regional parliament building, authorities said on Saturday, as demonstrations pose the first major test to President Prabowo Subianto’s government.

The Southeast Asian nation’s disaster management agency, in a statement, did not give the causes of the deaths in the Friday evening fire in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.

The Antara news agency said the dead victims allegedly had been trapped in the burning building. The disaster agency said two of the injuries resulted from people jumping out of the building.

Protests began in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta this week over lawmakers’ pay, escalating on Friday after a police armoured vehicle hit and killed the driver of a ride-hailing motorbike.

Prabowo, who took office in October last year, visited the home of the driver late on Friday, offering condolences to his parents and vowing to oversee the investigation into his death.

Local media reported isolated looting in Jakarta and damage to several transportation facilities in Jakarta on Friday, as well as demonstrations in the major cities of Bandung and Yogyakarta.

Jakarta’s mass rapid transit railway said trains were not stopping at one station on Saturday near Friday’s protest site, while the Jakarta province-owned Transjakarta bus service said it was unable to serve customers.

There were no immediate signs of protests on Saturday.