The activists were arrested on Thursday morning, and released in the evening. Police said that they "save" them from public outrage.
olice arrested and later released six activists protesting the 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Group in Bali.
The activists are from an alliance called Gerak Lawan (the Civil Movement Against Neocolonialism and Imperialism).
Dhyta Caturani, one of the activists and the founder of One Billion Rising Indonesia, said they were arrested on Thursday morning and released the same day.
“They were arrested [in the] morning, and released this evening after Gerak Lawan’s lawyers intervened,” she told The Jakarta Post through a WhatsApp text message on Friday.
South Denpasar Police chief Comr. I Nyoman Wirajaya denied that any arrests took place.
“These activists entered Sanur Beach without permission and provoked the public by distributing pamphlets and pictures related to the anti-IMF and World Bank movement, causing people to resent them and chase them away,” Nyoman said.
He added that least 20 activists had been protesting but all of them ran away, leaving only the six behind.
Police officers, who happened to patrol the area at the time, decided to take the remaining activists to the police station, Nyoman added.
“We didn’t arrest them. They were the ones who asked for our help,” he said, adding that the police only interrogated the activists for an hour and released them afterwards.
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