May Day 2026 in Bandung Turns Chaotic, Police Confirm Perpetrators Not from Labour Groups

West Java Police Chief Irjen Rudi Setiawan stated that there were no labour demonstrations in the West Java region on Friday (1/5). The activities to voice aspirations were only carried out by students in the Jatinangor area, Sumedang, as well as in the environment of the West Java DPRD.

According to Rudi, the unrest that occurred in the Jalan Tamansari area, Bandung, did not originate from labour groups. He mentioned that the crowd involved was actually an unknown group with characteristics of wearing all black and covering their faces.

“It turned out that in the afternoon towards evening, around 150 unknown masses were seen, with the characteristics mentioned earlier of wearing black, covering their faces, of course covering their faces to avoid detection of their identity, and then carrying fuel materials,” said Rudi, quoted by detikJabar, Saturday (2/5/2026).

He said that the group was suspected of having prepared the unrest action. Rudi mentioned that this was evident from the equipment they carried, including bottles filled with fuel suspected to be Molotov cocktails, as well as other hard objects.

“Earlier we saw them doing sprinkling and so on, carrying bottles that were already filled with oil or fuel with their fuses or in other words Molotovs. Then other hard objects, because earlier they damaged traffic lights, traffic lights, and other facility places, that was done by them,” he explained.