20 people missing after deadly Indonesia protests

JAKARTA (AFP) : At least 20 people were missing after violent protests sparked in Indonesia by lavish perks for lawmakers that have come to include anger against police, a rights group said Tuesday.

At least six people have been killed since protests rocked Southeast Asia’s biggest economy last week, intensified by footage spreading of the killing of a young delivery driver by a paramilitary police unit.

“As of September 1, there were 23 reports of missing persons. After the search and verification process, 20 missing persons remain unfound,” the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) said in a statement.

The group said the 20 were reported missing in the cities of Bandung and Depok on Java island, and the administrative cities of Central Jakarta, East Jakarta and North Jakarta that make up the wider capital city.

One incident took place in an “unknown location”, it said.

The National Police did not immediately respond to an AFP comment request.

Police arrested 1,240 people in protests in Jakarta since August 25, the city’s Metropolitan Police Inspector General Asep Edi Suheri told reporters Monday, state news agency Antara reported.

The unrest emerged in cities across the country, forcing President Prabowo Subianto into a U-turn on lawmaker perks.

They were the worst protests since the ex-general took power last year.

More protests were expected on Tuesday at parliament in Jakarta by a coalition of women’s groups, who a day earlier cancelled their protest.

The United Nations called on Monday for an investigation into alleged use of disproportionate force in the protests.

“We are following closely the spate of violence in Indonesia in the context of nationwide protests over parliamentary allowances, austerity measures, and alleged use of unnecessary or disproportionate force by security forces,” said UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

Clashes near university

The military was deployed across capital Jakarta on Monday as hundreds gathered again outside parliament and clashes were reported in several other cities.

Prabowo criticised protesters as he paid a visit to injured police at a hospital and said rallies should end by sundown.

In Bandung, protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at a provincial council building, before police overnight fired tear gas at “suspected… anarchists” who blocked a road.

Officers clashed with protesters who police accused of trying to draw them into a student campus at the Bandung Islamic University and “instigate conflict”, Hendra Rochman, West Java police spokesman said in a statement Tuesday.

On social media some users accused police of firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the campus and storming it. “Officers maintained a distance of approximately 200 metres from the campus and no shots were directed at the campus,” said Hendra.

The university in a press conference denied its students instigated any unrest.

Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on Java, and Makassar on Sulawesi.

In Gorontalo city on Sulawesi island protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

In anticipation of further unrest, TikTok on Saturday suspended its live feature for “a few days” in Indonesia, where it has more than 100 million users.