Student Protesters Begin Orations in Central Jakarta, Traffic Diverted Towards Gambir

Student protesters from the State University of Jakarta (UNJ) held a demonstration in the Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan area of Central Jakarta on Friday afternoon, demanding improvements to Indonesia’s education system and the upholding of civil sovereignty.

According to observations at the scene, the crowd arrived around 3:10 PM Western Indonesian Time, marching with a command vehicle towards the Patung Kuda monument. However, they were halted across from the BSI building, where police erected barricades and closed the road leading from Patung Kuda towards Gambir Station. The road from the direction of the United States Embassy to Patung Kuda remained open, with officers stationed at various points.

The demonstrators, dressed casually with some wearing sports and football jerseys, listened as speakers addressed the crowd from the command vehicle. During the orations, some participants played with a plastic ball, passing it amongst themselves.

Speakers demanded access to the Bundaran HI or Patung Kuda area and called on the government to meet their demands for popular sovereignty and to rescue Indonesian education. “Our demands are to completely overhaul the state system, secondly to save Indonesian education, and thirdly for civil society sovereignty. These are general demands, but this action will continue in waves and will target the Prabowo-Gibran cabinet,” an orator stated.