A fire initiated by protesters in a council building in eastern Indonesia killed at least three people, a local official said on Saturday, after demonstrations throughout the country after the death of a man hit by a police vehicle.
The largest economy in Southeast Asia was shaken by protests in the main cities, including the capital, Yakarta, after the spread of images of a motorcycle taxi driver run over by a police tactical vehicle in previous demonstrations against low salaries and financial benefits for legislators.
The protests in Makassar, the largest city on Sulawesi’s eastern island, descended to chaos outside the provincial and local buildings of the City Council, which caught fire when the protesters threw rocks and cocktails Molotov.
Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar City Council, said his secretary Rahmat Mappatoba AFP.
“They were trapped in the burning building,” he said, accusing the protesters of turning on the fire.
“Usually, during a demonstration, protesters only throw rocks or burn a tire in front of the office. They never broke into the building or burned it.”
Two town hall workers died on the scene and a third person, an official, died in the hospital.
At least four people were injured in the fire and were treated at the hospital, Rahmat added.
Hundreds of people were seen in images published by the local media that cheered and applauded when the fire wrapped the building on Friday with few security forces in sight.
A man was heard shouting: “There are people up!”
In footage verified by AFPThey saw burning debris falling from the ceiling of the municipal council building surrounded by palm trees while carbonized cars blinked flames.
Internal protesters lit several fires when parts of the building collapsed, while others broke the glass and sang “revolution.”
For Saturday, the building seemed to be a dark disaster, with dozens of carbonized cars around them, as a multitude of locals showed to inspect the scene, showed images transmitted by local media.
Other images showed the building of the provincial council of southern Sulawesi on fire during the night. The protesters had tried to tear down the door and assault the building.
Makassar and the Sulawesi police did not immediately respond to AFP Requests for comments.
Pabowo test
In Yakarta, on Friday, hundreds of a paramilitary police unit of the headquarters of the headquarters of the Paramilitary Police Unit of the Mobile Corp Brigade (Brimob) for the death of the driver of the Motorcycle Concert AFFAN Kurniawan the day before.
The protesters threw firecrackers when the police responded with tear gas.
A group of protesters tried to tear down the doors of the unit, accused of hard hand tactics, and took a signal from the building’s facade.
Police said they had arrested seven officers to interrogate in relation to AFFAN’s death.
The protests were the greatest and most violent of the presidency of Pabowo Subianto, a key test for the leader less than a year in his rule.
He has urged calm and ordered an investigation into the driver’s death and that the officers involved are responsible.
In a message posted on Instagram on Friday, Pabowo said that the government was “committed to guaranteeing the ressence” of the driver’s family, publishing images with them at home.
“In situations like this, the public urges to keep calm and trust the government that Lidero,” he wrote in an X publication.
He has promised rapid growth driven by the State, but has already faced protests for budget cuts from the generalized government to finance its populist policies, including a free member program of one billion dollars.
This week’s protests have extended to other important cities, including yogyakarta, bandung, Semarang and Surabaya in Java and Medan in the province of Sumatra del Norte.
