JAKARTA (AFP) — Thousands of Indonesians rallied across the country Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests over lavish perks for lawmakers that escalated into violent anger against the police.
At least 300 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta Monday afternoon as dozens of soldiers watched. Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered in Banjarmasin on Borneo island and Yogyakarta on the main island of Java, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists around the country.
“Our main goal is to reform the parliament. We hope the parliament will come out and meet us. We want to talk to them directly, they are our representatives,” prostester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, told AFP.
“Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?”
The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta, have forced President Prabowo Subianto and parliament leaders to make a U-turn over the measures.
Demonstrations began peacefully, but turned violent against the nation’s elite paramilitary police unit after footage showed one of its teams running over 21-year-old delivery driver Affan Kurniawan late Thursday.
Protests have since spread from Jakarta to other major cities, in the worst unrest since Prabowo took power.
Police set up checkpoints across the capital on Monday, while officers and the military conducted city-wide patrols and deployed snipers in key locations, while the usually traffic-clogged streets were quieter than usual.
Hundreds of soldiers were camped at the city’s national monument and some were stationed outside the presidential palace, according to an AFP journalist.
At least one group, the Alliance of Indonesian Women, said late Sunday it had cancelled its planned protest because of heightened security.
The capital’s police force paraded a convoy of armored cars and motorbikes outside parliament late Sunday, in a show of force as they attempt to warn off protesters.
Schools and universities in Jakarta were holding classes online until at least Tuesday, and civil servants based in the city were asked to work from home.