3 dead after the crowd that set fire to the Indonesian regional parliament: NPR

Jakarta, Indonesia – An angry crowd set fire to a local parliament building in an Indonesian provincial capital, killing at least three and five other hospitalized people, officials said.

The fire in Makassar, the capital of the province of South Sulawesi, started on Friday evening. Television reports have shown that the provincial council built fire overnight, which made the area become a strange orange color.

The rescuers recovered three bodies on Saturday morning, while five people were hospitalized with burns or broken bones after jumping from the building, said Fadli Tahar, a local disaster manager.

Protesters from the city of Bandung de West Java also established a regional fire in Parliament on Friday, but no victim was reported. In Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, the demonstrators stormed the headquarters of the regional police after destroying fences and inverted vehicles. The security forces have pulled tear gas and used water cannons, but demonstrators retaliated with fireworks and wooden clubs.

Calm largely returned to the capital of Indonesia on Saturday while the authorities were cleaning burned cars, police offices and abstams that were burnt down by angry demonstrators.

Five days of protests started in Jakarta on Monday, triggered by information that the 580 legislators receive a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupees ($ 3,075) in addition to their wages. The allowance, introduced last year, represents almost 10 times the minimum wage of Jakarta.

Critics argue that the new allowance is not only excessive but also insensitive at a time when most people are struggling with lifestyle and taxes and an increase in unemployment.

The demonstrations grew up wider and more violent after the death of the 21 -year -old driver, Affan Kurniawan. A video on social networks apparently showing his death during a rally in the capital Jakarta on Thursday shocked the nation and stimulated an uproar against the security forces.

Kurniawan would have finished a food delivery order when he was taken in the confrontation. Witnesses declared on local television that the armored car of the mobile brigade unit of the national police suddenly accelerated through the crowd of demonstrators and struck Kurniawan, which made him fall. Instead of stopping, the car crossed him.

The debris litter the street while the police take their position following violent demonstrations against the allowance of the legislators and the police brutality after a delivery rider was overthrown by a armored police vehicle during the clashes between the anti-riot police and the student demonstrators, in Jakarta, in Indonesia, on Saturday August 30, 2025.

Dita Cagree / AP

hide

tilting legend

Dita Cagree / AP

The clashes between the riot police and the Protets broke out in several cities of Indonesia, notably in Medan, Solo, Yogyakarta, Magelang, Malang, Bengkulu, Pekanbaru and Manokwari in the region of the most east.

The violent police repression on demonstrators left approximately 951 orders during gatherings in Jakarta only on Thursday, according to the National Commission for Human Rights, or Komnas Ham.

The authorities said that around 25 police officers had been hospitalized for serious injuries after being attacked by demonstrators in Jakarta. Komnas ham thought the number of people injured on the community side was much greater.

Amnesty International criticized the Indonesian government on Saturday, saying that it suppresses freedom of expression with repression on public demonstrations.

“No one should lose their life for exercising their right of protest,” said Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia. “The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release any person owned only for exercising their rights,” he said.

Authorities have confirmed that seven members of the Motor Brigade police who were linked to death in Jakarta were detained and questioned.