Jakarta – A protest action by students from several different tertiary education institutions in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta, which was calling for transparency in the deliberations on the Draft Criminal Code (RKUP), became heated on the afternoon of Tuesday June 28.
The students began setting fire to protest materials that they had brought with them along with rubbish scattered around the location of the rally. The fires were lit near the razor wire installed in front of the main gate into the parliamentary complex.
The fires were immediately put out by security officials from behind the gate. Speaking from atop of the command vehicle, the action coordinator also appealed to the demonstrators to calm themselves.
As of this article being submitted at around 5.30 pm, the protesters were still trying to force their way into the parliamentary complex in order to meet with DPR Speaker and ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Puan Maharani.
On several occasions they kicked a small door and urged security personnel to open it. The security personnel however, citing protocol, were reluctant to open the door.
"Open, open, open", shouted the protesters from outside the gate.
The students even threatened to move the focus of the action from in front of DPR's main gate to the small door after a representatives from the DPR's general secretariat refused to open the door and receive them.
Earlier, the students said that the government is ignoring 24 crucial issues in the RKUHP which civil society considers to be problematic.
Among others these include capital punishment, contempt of court, the living law, hate speech, abortion and cohabitation, which were discussed during a hearing on Wednesday May 25.
"We invite our comrades to turn Jalan Senayan yellow [with our yellow university jackets] on Tuesday June 28, 2022, at 11 am until we win", read a posting on the University of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM UI) Twitter account @BEMUI_Official on Monday June 27. (thr/ugo)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Demo RKUHP di DPR, Mahasiswa Bakar Sampah dan Ancam Dobrak Gerbang".]
