The Islamic College of Bandung’s scholar physique says safety officers ‘brutally attacked’ the campus with tear gasoline.
Printed On 2 Sep 2025
Indonesian police have used tear gasoline on crowds of protesters close to two universities, scholar teams and authorities mentioned, amid ongoing nationwide protests focusing on authorities spending, and burgeoning fury following a motorbike taxi driver’s demise after being hit by a police automotive.
On Tuesday, authorities deployed tear gasoline across the campuses of the Islamic College of Bandung (UNISBA) and close by Pasundan College, greater than 140km (86 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta.
Muhammad Ilham, a Pasundan scholar, informed the Reuters information company that authorities fired tear gasoline canisters from exterior the campus gates in addition to rubber bullets.
“There was a scholar who acquired hit by the rubber bullet, two photographs,” he mentioned.
No less than eight folks have died within the protests since final week, Coordinating Minister for Financial Affairs Airlangga Hartarto mentioned on Monday.
Based on police official Hendra Rochmawan, authorities on Tuesday didn’t enter the campuses however tried to interrupt up crowds of non-student protesters who had been in search of safety inside the college grounds.
UNISBA rector Harits Nu’man echoed the police assertion and confirmed that the campus had been used as a medical hub for protesters.
However, the UNISBA scholar physique accused safety forces of in search of to silence dissent, saying they “brutally attacked” the campus as tear gasoline triggered respiratory issues for some college students.
Mass unrest
Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from a crowd of motorcycle taxi drivers in central Jakarta, mentioned they have been gathering to honour the 21-year-old driver who was killed after being hit by an armoured police car throughout the protests.
“There are millions of them. They are saying to show the facility of peaceable meeting to allow them to honour their colleague, that they will name for his or her varied calls for, together with financial inequality and do it peacefully,” Washington mentioned.
She added that many civil society teams in Indonesia have been at the moment “elevating the alarm” over a civil society chief who was arrested late final night time in Jakarta.
Extra protests are anticipated on Tuesday exterior parliament in Jakarta, organised by a coalition of girls’s teams.
For the reason that protests started final week, not less than 20 protesters have gone lacking as anger elevated resulting from mass overspending by lawmakers and police violence, in keeping with the Fee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS).
The group mentioned 20 folks have been reported lacking within the cities of Bandung and Depok on Java Island, and the executive cities of Central Jakarta, East Jakarta and North Jakarta.
College college students have lengthy been considered vanguards of Indonesia’s democracy, having taken a number one position in protests that helped topple President Soeharto in 1998.
Present President Prabowo Subianto, a army chief underneath Soeharto, is dealing with the primary main take a look at of his management. He met labour unions, a few of which joined final week’s protest pushing for an increase within the minimal wage, and mentioned he informed lawmakers to debate labour legal guidelines, in keeping with an announcement from his workplace.
Indonesians have added pink and inexperienced hues to their social media profile footage in response to the protests, with some utilizing the hashtag #ResetIndonesia and outlining their calls for for the federal government.
