{"id":162554,"date":"2025-08-30T13:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fire-kills-three-people-in-indonesia-after-protesters-storm-council-buildings-in-the-wake-of-drivers-death-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T13:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:39:14","slug":"fire-kills-three-people-in-indonesia-after-protesters-storm-council-buildings-in-the-wake-of-drivers-death-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fire-kills-three-people-in-indonesia-after-protesters-storm-council-buildings-in-the-wake-of-drivers-death-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire kills three people in Indonesia after protesters storm council buildings in the wake of driver\u2019s death &#8211; The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cities in Indonesia rocked by protests after motorcycle taxi driver run over by police tactical vehicle<br \/>Protesters have torched parliamentary buildings in three further Indonesian provinces, a day after at least three people were killed by a fire started by demonstrators at a council building in the city of Makassar.<br \/>Protests erupted across Indonesia after footage spread showing a motorcycle taxi driver being run over and killed by a police vehicle on Thursday night during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/aug\/26\/indonesia-protests-austerity-parliament-member-privileges\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">earlier demonstrations over low wages for workers and perks<\/a> for lawmakers.<br \/>Regional parliamentary buildings in West Nusa Tenggara, Pekalongan city in Central Java and Cirebon city in West Java were set ablaze by protesters on Saturday, Reuters reported, citing local media.<br \/>Indonesia\u2019s national police chief, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, said the president had ordered authorities to act decisively against protesters who broke the law. The announcement came after the president, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/prabowo-subianto\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Prabowo Subianto<\/a>, appealed for calm and in a statement on Friday said he had ordered a \u201cthorough and transparent investigation\u201d into the death of the driver, Affan Kurniawan, and urged the public to trust his government.<br \/>Protests in Makassar in eastern Indonesia descended into chaos on Friday outside city council buildings, which were set on fire, and vehicles were set ablaze as protesters hurled rocks and molotov cocktails.<br \/>Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar city council building, its secretary, Rahmat Mappatoba, told AFP.<br \/>\u201cThey were trapped in the burning building,\u201d he said, accusing protesters of storming the office to set the building on fire.<br \/>\u201cThis is beyond our prediction. Usually during a demonstration, protesters only threw rocks or burn a tyre in front of the office. They never stormed into the building or burned it,\u201d Mappatoba added.<br \/>Two of the victims were local council staff and another was a civil servant. Two died at the scene and one died in hospital. At least four people were injured in the fire and are being treated in hospital, the official said.<br \/>Images showed the provincial council building ablaze overnight, but the fire has since been extinguished.<br \/>Protesters at the South Sulawesi provincial council building tried to knock down the gate and storm in.<br \/>In Jakarta, hundreds of people gathered outside the headquarters of the elite Mobile Brigade Corp paramilitary police unit, which they blamed for the death of the motorcycle taxi driver, throwing firecrackers as police responded with teargas.<br \/>A group of protesters tried to tear down the gates of the unit, which is notorious for its heavy-handed tactics, and pulled a sign from the building\u2019s facade in chaotic scenes.<br \/>Police said they had detained seven officers for questioning in connection with the driver\u2019s death.<br \/>The protests were the biggest and most violent of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/prabowo-subianto\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Subianto<\/a>\u2019s presidency less than a year into his rule. Subianto has promised fast, state-driven growth but has already faced protests for widespread budget cuts to fund his populist policies, including a $1bn free meal programme.<br \/>The driver\u2019s death caused anger that had been brewing over government perks and the cost of living crisis to boil over. Since Monday, thousands of protesters have demonstrated in the capital against a monthly housing allowance for MPs that amounts to almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/aug\/26\/indonesia-protests-austerity-parliament-member-privileges\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">10 times the Jakarta minimum wage<\/a> amid the president\u2019s austerity drive.<br \/>Protests also spread to other big Indonesian cities on Friday, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya in Java and Medan in North Sumatra province.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMi7gFBVV95cUxQdlRRVHA4UTZJbS1nSFdsS1VjaDlNMVF1SEFLSnBwWGE4amRna0dlemFvR04xSUZWUVFBVmhabVItX2Z0MGRjZ0pBSk5rODlRejd3QndfYUhJMk1IQTlYOXBqaW13SGNnTTU5SGlNTTNxOWNkX0JhU3J3ejZYSkNwM2ZObTB6RTVqLVlNZElqbE9ReEpRZHpoNElBb1VxQWkwTExnVTBtRTUzSG1jUGUwWVFyNlVOcHpnTTNlTU5SQzhROTU0a1BibDhmMUlfLUNkR2ZBVDc3c0FidUZMTUJ5Q00tUVVtZXlwaE10eE9n?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cities in Indonesia rocked by protests after motorcycle taxi driver run over by police tactical vehicleProtesters have torched parliamentary buildings in three further Indonesian provinces, a day after at least three people were killed by a fire started by demonstrators at a council building in the city of Makassar.Protests erupted across Indonesia after footage spread [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}