JAKARTA: Thousands rallied across Indonesia Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests sparked by anger over lavish perks for lawmakers.
At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta, watched by soldiers and police throughout the day, before dissipating after President Prabowo Subianto warned protests should end by sundown.
But elsewhere protests were more volatile. In Gorontalo city on Sulawesi island protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon, according to an AFP journalist. In Bandung on the main island Java, protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at the provincial council building.
Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on the main island of Java and Makassar on Sulawesi, according to AFP journalists around the country.
“Our main goal is to reform the parliament,” protester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, told AFP outside parliament before the protest ended.
“Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?”
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.