Police confirm social media video of buses bringing masses to Jakarta is a hoax

The Indonesian National Police have confirmed that several videos on social media, which claim that a number of buses were carrying groups of people from various regions to Jakarta to take part in a demonstration on Thursday (27/8), are hoax videos.

The Head of the Cikampek Toll Road Patrol Unit (PJR), Police Commissioner Sandy Titah Nugraha, said that the visuals of bus convoys passing along the toll road in the videos were old footage.

“In fact, the video clips circulating are old videos that have been embellished with false narratives, because we directly monitored the traffic flow on the toll road and did not see any such bus convoys,” he said when confirmed by ANTARA in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“It is not related to tomorrow’s mass action on Thursday,” he said.

He also said that the situation on the Cikampek Toll Road up to this afternoon remained conducive and tended to be busy but smooth.

On social media, there were several videos claiming that masses from a number of regions were on their way to Jakarta by bus to take part in a demonstration.

In the videos, a convoy of buses was depicted travelling along the toll road. In fact, in one of the videos, it was claimed that there were 200 buses departing from Kudus, Central Java.