Student Protest in Front of UKI Campus in East Jakarta Disperses, Traffic Remains Congested
A group of students from Universitas Kristen Indonesia (UKI) who staged a protest in front of their campus on Jalan Mayjen Sutoyo, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, have dispersed. However, traffic in the area remains congested.
Based on monitoring at the location on Wednesday (17/6/2026) at 18:45 WIB, no crowds of students were visible, and remnants of the demonstration were no longer present. However, traffic from Cililitan towards Cawang was still heavy, with vehicles moving slowly towards the underpass and the Cawang LRT Station.
An online motorcycle taxi driver named Simanjuntak said the student protest ended around 17:40 WIB, before the Maghrib call to prayer. He noted that police officers were present to oversee the demonstration. “It’s finished, before Maghrib. Earlier, around half past three in the afternoon, it was crowded,” said the man known as Juntak. He explained that the student action caused a traffic jam from Cililitan towards Cawang, as the road was temporarily blocked by the crowd gathering in the middle of the street. “It was jammed, in the afternoon you couldn’t move from that direction,” he added.
A local resident named Uji said the protest involved tyre burning and some heated arguments with security forces. “It was lively, there was tyre burning. There were brief scuffles. The usual friction with the authorities,” Uji remarked. Despite this, Uji observed that the crowd dispersed safely and police personnel returned to their posts after the students left. “It seemed safe, they all went straight back to campus,” he said.
Earlier, the student protest in front of the campus caused traffic congestion. Viral social media posts showed the crowd demonstrating on the road shoulder and burning tyres. Google Maps traffic data at 18:10 WIB indicated severe congestion in the Cawang area near the UKI campus. East Jakarta Traffic Unit Head Kompol Harnas Prihandito confirmed the situation, stating, “It was a public expression of opinion by UKI students in front of their campus.” He assured that traffic was not completely blocked and was still flowing, adding that the crowd had dispersed by 17:45 WIB and traffic flow was returning to normal.