Indonesian police fired tear gas to break up a rally near parliament on Monday, as several thousand protesters gathered to oppose a new law that critics say undermines the anti-graft agency and criminal code that would ban sex outside marriage.
At a closing meeting on Monday, parliament officially agreed to delay to its next term a vote on the criminal code bill. A new parliament will be sworn in on Tuesday.
Lawmakers had rushed to finish debate on a number of bills in their final days in session, including passing into law a bill governing the anti-corruption agency, known as the KPK, which activists say hurts its capacity to fight graft.
ALSO READ: Impeachment: Trump remains defiant as House’s inquiry set to intensify
This sparked a series of student rallies across the country, some of the biggest since 1998 student protests fueled unrest that led to the fall of former strongman leader Suharto.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd of students, activists and union members as they sought to reach parliament in Jakarta on Monday and blocked part of a road.
In another location, police also shot tear gas at protesters who then ran towards a commuter rail line to avoid the gas, forcing the closure of a station, according to a video carried by news portal Detik.com.
Police said they fired tear gas after protesters refused to disperse and threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at officers, according to the state Antara news agency.
A Twitter account that tracks the protests @AksiLangsung (direct action) said tear gas was fired although the crowd was dispersing. It posted tips on how to handle tear gas earlier in the day.
Student protesters have been using social media to coordinate their actions, including to raise money on a crowdfunding platform.
“We are raising our voices again. (We) cannot do it just once, because parliament is deaf,” read a placard being held up by one protester who had climbed a tree.
More than 20,000 police and military personnel were deployed to maintain security in the capital, according to media.
Students also staged protests in the cities of Yogyakarta and Solo in Central Java.
Last week, President Joko Widodo said he would consider revoking the KPK law and ordered police restraint after the death of two student protesters, one of whom died of bullet wounds, according to police.
Sandi Saputra Pulungan, an activist with the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the protests would continue until all of their demands were met.
“We see that in Indonesia, our democracy is in danger. It’s as though we’re not in a democracy, but rather we are returning to the era of the New Order,” Pulungan said, referring to the 32-year rule of the late president Suharto, who used the army to maintain tight control and contain opposition.
A list of student demands has been circulated on social media, which alongside opposing the new laws, includes stopping forest fires and removing a heavy military presence in the restive easternmost area of Papua.
and then