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26 activists freed from charges of violating rally regulation
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Two fishermen hold up a net with fish at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta). The Central Jakarta District Court freed on Tuesday two LBH lawyers, 23 worker activists and a student from charges of violating a demonstration regulation. (tribunnews.com/Amriyono )
T
he Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday acquitted 26 activists from charges of misdemeanor for disobeying the police's orders during a rally protesting the government’s minimum wage formula.
The 26 people included 23 worker activists, two public lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) and a university student.
The workers and the student were all participants of the rally in October, last year, while the two lawyers were at the scene to accompany the workers.
(Read also: Workers, legal aid lawyers fight disobedience charges)
Police dispersed the peaceful rally in front of the Presidential Palace, which was joined by hundreds of workers from the Greater Jakarta area, at around 6 p.m., the maximum allowed time for a demonstration.
The 26 people were then named suspects for allegedly disobeying the police’s order to disperse the rally after the allowed time.
The panel of judges adjudicating the case argued that the rally participants had followed the law and demanded justice for their work peacefully.
“The rally participants were actually moving to leave the rally scene, but they moved slowly because they were blocked by other participants who were panicked by the police’s tear gas,” LBH Jakarta director Al Ghiffari Aqsa said in a statement on Tuesday, citing some of the judges’ opinions of the case. (jun)
