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EDAN: Dozens of students from different universities in Medan, North Sumatra, staged a rally at one of the city’s main traffic circles on Friday, demanding the police free activist Sahat Syafei Gurning who was recently arrested for allegedly insulting the state symbol, Garuda Pancasila.

The students’ spokesperson, Wahyu Rajagukguk, from the Medan Institute of Technology, said Sahat should be released because what he had done was just an expression of disappointment with his country, without any intention to insult the symbol.

Sahat was arrested by the Toba Samosir Police’s intelligence division on Tuesday for posting a picture on social media depicting someone kicking the Garuda Pancasila. He also wrote that Pancasila was a symbol of an illusory state and that Pancagila was a more appropriate title. Gila in Indonesian means mad.

North Sumatra Police spokesperson Helfi Assegaf said Sahat was currently being examined by Toba Samosir Police investigators.