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View all search resultsJakarta streets quiet on weekend after mass protests
Crowds, led by students, workers and rights groups, took to the streets of Jakarta last week to protest against MPs' housing allowances. Unrest spread across the country after a police vehicle hit and killed a motorcycle taxi driver at one rally.
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This aerial picture shows motorists commuting during the rush hour in Jakarta on August 29, 2023. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
T
he streets of Jakarta were quiet over the weekend after more than a week of sometimes violent protests, as Indonesia celebrated a holiday marking the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
Crowds, led by students, workers and rights groups, took to the streets of Jakarta last week to protest against MPs' housing allowances. Unrest spread across the country after a police vehicle hit and killed a motorcycle taxi driver at one rally.
On Thursday, student groups met cabinet ministers to press their complaints over lawmakers' perks and police tactics used against demonstrators.
Student representatives also met with some lawmakers earlier in the week, but have so far not been successful in their demands for a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto.
Rights groups say 10 people have died and more than 1,000 have been injured in clashes with security forces and other unrest.
Authorities have detained more than 3,000 people in a nationwide crackdown on the protests, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said.
Earlier this week, police set up checkpoints across the capital, while officers and the military conducted city-wide patrols and deployed snipers in key locations. The usually traffic-clogged streets were quieter than usual.
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.
The crisis has prompted Prabowo to partially cancel a trip to China this week but later joined a military parade commemorating the end of World War II.
In recent days the finance minister's house was pillaged and several lawmakers have reportedly had their houses ransacked.
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