Jakarta – Three people died after the Makassar Regional House of Representative (DPRD) offices in South Sulawesi caught fire during a protest against the national House of Representatives (DPR) on Friday night August 29.
The number of victims has been confirmed by the head of the Makassar City Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) Dahyal.
"Yes, there were three people. One Satpol PP [Public Order Agency] official and the Head of the Ujung Tanah Community Welfare Section", Dahyal said. "One body was trapped, a woman named Sarina, a staff member assisting council member Andi Tendri Uji", he added.
The details are Ujung Tanah District Social Welfare Section head Syaiful, a Satpol PP officer whose identity is not yet known and Sarina, a staff member accompanying Uji.
Syaiful was at the Makassar DPRD building to replace the Ujung Tanah district head Amanda Syahwaldiin at a plenary meeting.
When the building caught fire, a plenary session was underway. The meeting was also attended by officials from the Makassar City government, including Mayor Munafri Arifuddin and his deputy Aliyah Ilham.
When the riots broke out, all of the council members and leaders of the Makassar city government were immediately evacuated via a safe route.
"The Pak [Mr] Mayor and Bu [Mrs] Deputy Mayor, the Pak regional secretary were evacuated from the back by motorbike. Thank God, we're all safe, only the office and a car were damaged", said Makassar DPRD Deputy Speaker 2 Anwar Faruq on Saturday morning August 30.
As of 2.30 am, Makassar City fire department personnel were still trying to extinguish the fire and checking whether there were any other victims in the incident.
The demonstration in Makassar was a solidarity action to protest the death of online motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan. Kurniawan who was killed after being run over by a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) tactical vehicle (rantis) on Thursday night in Pejompongan, Jakarta.
At that time, the demonstration in the Pejompongan area was heating up. The late Kurniawan crossed the street to deliver food ordered by a customer. A video circulating on social media shows him being hit and run over by a Brimob vehicle.
In recent days, people from various backgrounds have demonstrated near the DPR building in Jakarta. The protesters have strongly criticised DPR policies, including housing allowances for members of parliament. (isa/rds)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "3 Orang Tewas Imbas Kebakaran DPRD Makassar saat Demo Ricuh".]
