Jakarta not afraid: Students make posters that read '€œPeace 4 Jakarta'€ and '€œStudents aren'€™t scared'€ during a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta on Friday. The main aim of the rally was to fight against terrorism and raise awareness among people. (JP/Seto Wardhana )

Hundreds of citizens gathered on Friday at the site of Thursday'€™s terror attacks in Central Jakarta to show solidarity in the fight against terrorism.

Some of the stores and offices on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta remained closed after Thursday'€™s terror, but other business centers in the capital opened just a day after the attacks that claimed the lives of seven and injured 26 others.

A young woman in a white shirt and black blouse picked up her cell-phone on Friday morning as she passed by the Starbucks coffee outlet on Jl. MH Thamrin where the shoot-out and bomb attacks took place a day before. '€œIt was my mother, she was worried but I told her there was nothing to fear,'€ Fira Agustin, whose office is located a few hundred meters from the crime scene, told The Jakarta Post.

'€œIt'€™s impossible to say the incident did not make me nervous, but with a lot of police swarming around the area, I feel much safer,'€ she continued.

On Thursday morning at 10:50 a.m., several explosions took place outside a Starbucks coffee shop and a small police post near the Sarinah shopping center on Jl. MH Thamrin. The bombing was followed by crossfire gun battles between cops and the suspected terrorists.

In addition to killing two innocent civilians, an Indonesian and a Canadian, the attack also injured 26 victims including five police officers and four foreigners from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Algeria. All five terrorist suspects were killed in the attack.

Like Starbucks, some nearby offices and fast food restaurants remained closed on Friday, with dozens of police officers standing guard in bulletproof vests and with tactical rifles. However, just a few hundred meters from the area, other business centers opened with slightly quieter traffic.

In the afternoon, citizens began pouring in to the terror site in defiance of the terrorists. They included Catholic priest Franz Magnis-Suseno, pluralism activist Alissa Wahid, columnist Goenawan Mohamad and Deputy Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat.

They brought flowers and banners with #wearenotafraid and #Indonesiatidaktakut written on them.

Djarot delivered a speech calling for Jakartans to be brave.

'€œToday, the residents of Jakarta have gathered, inspired by their moral conscience. We are a nation with a spirit of togetherness and tolerance,'€ Djarot told those gathered.

The politician from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) called on Jakartans to work together in securing their own neighborhoods. '€œWhen we unite, we are strong,'€ he said.

Ardila Ayu, a cashier at the Burger King store next to the Starbucks coffee shop in the Cakrawala Building, said on Friday that her workplace had been temporarily closed by the store owner.

'€œI came here today to see the condition of the crime scene'€, she said. Having described the attack as '€œthe most horrifying hour of her life,'€ Ayu said she would still return to the restaurant where she has worked for the last three years as soon as it opened.

'€œIt takes more than bombs for me to stop working there,'€ the girl continued as she struggled to hold back her tears.

Bimo Harimahesa, a lawyer whose office is located in a busy business district in Kuningan, South Jakarta, also went to his office on Friday morning without fearing another attack. '€œThe security in the city has been tightened after the attack. I don'€™t think there is much chance of another bombing,'€ he said.

On Friday, netizens continued to respond to the terror attack with humor, posting memes featuring pictures of street vendors conducting their usual business at the scene of the bombing. The most popular picture is that of Pak Jamal, the satay vendor. Jamal'€™s popularity rose after a netizen shared a picture of Jamal grilling satay not far from the attack site while the police were engaged in crossfire gun battles with the armed suspects.

Another popular topic is the gun-toting '€œhandsome cop'€ who generated the hashtag #kaminaksir (crush on you) from young women. Screen captures of young women discussing the sartorial tastes of the '€œhandsome cop'€ on their social media threads were made into memes to represent the fearlessness of Jakartans in the face of terror.

Separately, chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian of the Jakarta Police said that Jakarta was on waspada, or status of alert level 2. The highest level is level 4. Despite the current status, he suggested that Jakarta residents remain calm.

On the same occasion, Tito applauded the performance of his officers for responding to the attack quickly and in a way that minimized the number of victims.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Police'€™s vital object security director Sr. Comr. Aan Suhanan said that the police had doubled security measures at several important places throughout the capital, particularly foreign embassies, following Thursday'€™s terror attack.

'€œSome embassies, which previously had four police officers, are now guarded by eight policemen. Others have 16 officers,'€ Aan said, adding that the tightened security measures would be extended indefinitely.

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