Responding to a series of incidents of excessive use of force and police violence against students, journalists and medical personnel during demonstrations commemorating International Labour Day (May Day) in a number of cities on May 1, Amnesty International Indonesia Deputy Director Wirya Adiwena, said:
"Once again, the authorities have demonstrated brutal, cruel and inhumane tactics against peaceful protesters on International Labour Day, which were held simultaneously in several cities. This is evidence that the Indonesian government continues to carry out authoritarian practices in silencing freedom of expression and assembly in Indonesia.
Serious human rights violations by police were seen in several cities such as Jakarta and Semarang. This included the unlawful use of excessive force by police, physical violence, torture and inhumane treatment, arbitrary arrests, intimidation, unlawful questioning and searches, unlawful deployment of plainclothes officers and attacks on journalists and medical workers.
Police violence continues because the police have not punished the perpetrators or those at the command level in previous incidents of violence. This has made the cycle of impunity continue to be deeply rooted in the police.
The Indonesian National Police (Polri) must immediately stop using such authoritarian tactics and conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into all acts of violence committed by its members during the peaceful demonstrations on International Labour Day. Those arrested and detained simply for participating in yesterday's peaceful demonstrations must be released immediately.
The government, the House of Representatives (DPR), the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) and other supervisory institutions must immediately evaluate the leadership of the National Police, which has repeatedly been used as a tool of repression against citizens' freedom of expression and assembly.
The recurrence of cases of police violence like this is an alarm bell for Commission III of the DPR to immediately use the right of inquiry or the right of interpellation to expose the impunity within the National Police as an institution. Moreover, practices that are allowed to continue for years without any efforts to improve them can be considered as policies that need to be addressed critically by the DPR".
Background
The celebration of International Labour Day 2025, which took place simultaneously in several cities in Indonesia on May 1, was marred by the use of excessive force and violence by police officers against demonstrators and journalists covering the events.
In Jakarta, the police acted repressively when facing peaceful protests in front of the DPR complex in Senayan. The Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD) revealed that officers stopped and searched action equipment and students' personal belongings who were demonstrating in front of the DPR building in the morning. There were even students who were accused of being an anarchist group without a clear basis.
Police officers broke up the ongoing demonstration without warning or legal grounds. At around 5 pm officers made arrests accompanied by violence to break up the demonstration. The forced dispersal was carried out while the demonstration and a music entertainment even were still ongoing using water cannons and teargas.
Data from TAUD as of Friday afternoon revealed that at least 14 protesters were arrested and taken to the Metro Jaya Regional Police (Polda). Four of those arrested were medical team members who were on duty to provide medical assistance. The medical team was also abused in the form of blows to the head and neck.
Thirteen of the 14 demonstrators who were arrested suffered injuries and bruises all over their bodies. The victims claimed to have been hit, pinned, pushed, kicked and even run over by motor vehicles. Three people were found by the TAUD team to have suffered from bleeding wounds on their heads due to physical violence by officers. Police officers are also suspected of committing physical and non-physical sexual harassment against a women demonstrator who was arrested.
Violence by the authorities was also directed at a journalist from the media progreSIP.id with the initials Y. Y was documenting the security forces when they drove back demonstrators in the afternoon. The victim was then assaulted by around ten people, who were suspected of being plainclothes police, who accused Y of being an "anarchist," even though the victim had shown them their journalist ID. Not only did they assault Y, they also forced the victim to delete a video recording. The victim admitted to being in shock and having difficulty breathing due to the violence they experienced.
In the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang, protesters were forced back by police with water cannons and teargas, with tear gas reportedly hitting a medical post according to the Semarang Legal Aid Foundation (LBH). Police also made arbitrary arrests of demonstrators. LBH Semarang said that as of Friday afternoon, police were still holding at least 14 demonstrators at the Semarang Metropolitan District Police Headquarters (Polrestabes).
The Semarang Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) revealed that a journalist from Tempo media, with the initials JAN, was attacked twice by the authorities while covering the demonstrations. First, while covering a demonstration in front of the gate to the Central Java Governor's office at 5.30 pm. JAN was intimidated and suffered violence in the form of his neck being pinched and then almost slammed to the ground.
The next attack occurred when the victim was covering the siege between police officers and thugs in front of the main gate of the University of Diponegoro (Undip) Pleburan campus at around 8.36 pm. The victim and other journalists were accused of making recordings by a group of people in plain clothes who were suspected of being police officers. The victim was then beaten repeatedly by several people who were suspected of being police even though he was already being held physically by the Central Java deputy police chief (Wakapolda).
DS, a student press editor-in-chief was also reportedly beaten, allegedly by plainclothes officers, resulting in a laceration to his face that required stitches. DS was beaten while recording violence against protesters with their cell phone, despite claiming to be a journalist. Not only that, four members of the Student Press Institute (LPM), two members of the LPM Justisia from the Semarang State Islamic University (UIN) and two members of LPM Vokal from the Semarang Indonesian Teachers Association University (UPGRIS) are also suspected of experiencing police violence.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kekerasan polisi dan pelanggaran HAM lainnya warnai aksi damai Hari Buruh Internasional 2025".]
