Petrol Bombs, Tear Gas, Water Cannons & Violent Clashes: Why Indonesia Is Burning

Thousands of enraged students and workers staged protests across Indonesia on day 4 of unrest on Thursday, against the new law that they say cripples labour rights and harms environment. Indonesian police detained nearly 400 protesters who demand that the law be revoked.

AP

3,000 protesters take to streets

The protest in Bekasi in Indonesia's Java turned violent in the afternoon today, with a video obtained by The Associated Press showing a student collapsing three meters from a police barricade after a gunshot was heard. Other students carried him away, and his condition is still unclear. It is alleged that the gunshot was fired by one of the policemen.

Protests took an ugly turn with reports of arson and violence emerging from different parts across the country. During a rally in Jakarta, protesters burnt a metro station as a display of their anger.

AP

Protesters burnt tyres, police used tear gas

On Wednesday, more than 3,000 protesters, including workers and high school and university students, attempted to reach the heavily guarded parliament building. Protesters set fires to tyres near blocked streets and pelted police with rocks and gasoline bombs and broke down a gate of the parliament compound. Riot police responded by firing tear gas and water cannons.

AP

Authorities in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, blocked streets leading to the local parliament building and city hall, where clashes between rock-throwing students and riot police broke out late Tuesday when police tried to disperse the protesters. Organisers called for a three-day national strike starting Tuesday demanding that the government revoke the legislation. On the same day, the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions, known as KSPI, said about 2 million workers representing 32 labor unions will take part in mass rallies and strikes in various cities for several days.

AP

Smaller protests also occurred in other Indonesian cities, including in Jakarta¡¯s satellite cities of Tangerang and Bekasi where large factories are located, and many cities on Sumatra and Sulawesi islands.

New labour law "anti-national"

The new Job Creation Law, which was approved Monday, is expected to bring radical changes to Indonesia¡¯s labor system and natural resources management. It is intended to improve bureaucratic efficiency and cut red tape as part of efforts by President Joko Widodo's administration to attract more foreign investment. However, the protesters say the new law is "anti-national" will hurt workers by reducing severance pay, removing restrictions on manual labor by foreign workers, increasing the use of outsourcing, and converting monthly wages into hourly wages.

AP

Indonesia, Southeast Asia¡¯s largest economy, is eagerly courting foreign investors as key drivers of economic growth in a nation where nearly half the population is younger than 30.