Police Ask Students to Protest at DPR, Not Bundaran HI
The Jakarta Metropolitan Police (Polda Metro Jaya) has stressed that the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia (HI) roundabout in Central Jakarta is not a designated location for public demonstrations. Consequently, police blocked a student alliance that planned to hold a protest titled ‘Menuju Indonesia Bangkrut’ (Towards Indonesia’s Bankruptcy) at the site on Friday, 12 June 2026.
Head of Public Relations for Polda Metro Jaya, Senior Commissioner Budi Hermanto, stated that Bundaran HI serves as a centre of public activity and is a vital economic point in the capital. He said this condition is the reason demonstrations cannot be held there. ‘We have determined that the area around Bundaran HI is not a place for conveying aspirations,’ Budi said in a written statement on Friday.
Therefore, Polda Metro Jaya requested the students to relocate their planned action from Bundaran HI. Police offered several alternative locations, such as the Arjuna Wijaya statue area (Patung Kuda) and the front of the MPR/DPR/DPD building complex.
Earlier, a mass of students from the University of Indonesia (UI) Student Executive Board (BEM) was intercepted by security forces in the Semanggi area of Central Jakarta. They were heading to Bundaran HI to join the demonstration on Friday afternoon. Approximately 1,000 UI students were scheduled to participate in the action. Since morning, they had gathered in the FISIP UI parking lot in Depok before departing in several buses divided into multiple convoys.
According to BEM UI Law Faculty Chairman Anandaku Dimas Rumi, hundreds of students travelled by bus towards Jakarta, but their journey was obstructed after security forces carried out the interception. By Friday afternoon, a number of protest participants from various groups had already been waiting at the Bundaran HI area. They consisted of students, workers, and groups of women who claimed to have been at the location since around 10.00 WIB.
BEM UI Chairman Yatalathof Ma’shum Imawan previously stated that the action would be joined by the UI-wide BEM alliance, comprising BEM UI and 15 faculty BEMs, BEM KM IPB, BEM PNJ, BEM Pancasila University, the Gunadarma BEM Alliance, FMN Pusat, FMN UI, Pembebasan, and Semar UI. ‘Several organisations and movement nodes that participated in the national consolidation at the UI Campus yesterday will still confirm their attendance and the number of participants in tonight’s meeting,’ Yatalathof said.
In the action, the students brought five main demands: stopping the waste of the state budget (APBN), lowering the prices of staple goods and fuel, halting the Free Nutritious Meal Programme (MBG), cancelling the construction of the Merah Putih Village Cooperatives, and ending militarism in the civilian sphere. Additionally, they urged President Prabowo to acknowledge the government’s mistakes.