Police: 69 Detained During Hotel Sultan Execution Are Not Employees

A total of 69 people were detained following a disturbance during the execution of the former Hotel Sultan in Central Jakarta. Police have confirmed that those detained are not employees of the hotel. “For now, the 69 people detained are not employees of the former Hotel Sultan. We are clarifying this,” said Polda Metro Jaya Public Relations Head, Commissioner Budi Hermanto, to reporters at the execution site on Thursday (18/6/2026).

Budi confirmed that the individuals suspected of sparking the unrest during the execution were outsiders. He suspects the crowd that gathered was deliberately mobilised. “They are a mobilised mass attempting to obstruct the asset seizure process at this location,” he explained.

Budi added that police will further investigate the detained individuals. He also confirmed that the people staying at the hotel today were a pre-arranged group. “We explain that the occupants are people who were conditioned to stay from several days ago. Because this execution process has actually been underway for some time, but there was still a stage of negotiation to appeal to them to leave persuasively,” he said.

Budi noted that around 500 people from the mobilised crowd had gathered at the Hotel Sultan during the execution. Police are now investigating those who attempted to resist the execution. “We saw together earlier that there were approximately 500 people occupying the object to be executed. We will certainly investigate the attempts to obstruct and resist officers performing their duties,” he stated.

The execution of the former Hotel Sultan turned unruly, with the crowd rejecting the eviction throwing stones at officers. The execution is based on a ruling that Blok 15, where the hotel was built, is a state asset that was acquired by the government around 1959 and must be brought under government control.

Deputy Minister of State Secretary Bambang Eko Suhariyanto revealed that President Prabowo Subianto had directed the retrieval of state assets. “On several occasions, President Prabowo has stated that we must reclaim government assets, state assets that have been controlled by other parties,” Bambang said during the execution at the Blok 15 Gelora Bung Karno area on Thursday (18/6).

The execution was carried out based on Central Jakarta District Court ruling number 1/PDT.EKS/2026/PN.Jkt.Pst. in conjunction with number 208/Pdt.G/2025/PN.Jkt.Pst. The court opined that the applicants’ request for a vacate execution had met the requirements, did not contradict the law, and could be granted.