Government faces calls for police reform amid violent clashes across Jakarta and demonstrations in other cities
Hundreds of Indonesians have protested at sites across Jakarta over the death of a man hit by a police vehicle, in the first big test for Prabowo Subianto’s nearly year-old government.
The man, a motorcycle ride-sharing driver, was hit at the site of violent clashes near parliament on Thursday as police sought to disperse demonstrators protesting about a number of issues including lawmakers’ pay and education funding.
The protests on Friday afternoon in the capital of south-east Asia’s largest economy prompted a number of schools to close early, and banks and businesses to ask employees to work from home. The military was deployed in some areas, footage broadcast by local media showed.
Drivers, students and Indonesians from other walks of life gathered outside the country’s parliament and police headquarters in Jakarta to protest on Friday, throwing rocks at the gates and chanting: “Killer. Killer.”
