Video of Jakarta Protest on 31 July 2026 is a Hoax
Jakarta (ANTARA/JACX) – A post on the social media platform X featured a video showing a number of police personnel sitting on the road behind a barrier fence.
In front of them, a crowd is visible, consisting of university students, participants dressed in black, and several people carrying flags.
The post claimed that the video showed the current situation in Jakarta on 31 July 2026.
The post also claimed that the demonstration had escaped television news coverage. The video has been viewed more than 300,000 times.
But does the video really show a demonstration in Jakarta on 31 July 2026 that went unreported on television?
Explanation:
Based on a search using Google Image, the video is identical to a post on Instagram which explains that the footage shows the situation in the area around the Hotel Indonesia (HI) roundabout in Central Jakarta on 12 June 2026 at around 7.30pm local time.
On that day, the Student Executive Board of the University of Indonesia (BEM UI), together with more than 700 students from various universities, staged a demonstration titled ‘Towards a Bankrupt Indonesia’.
During the action, the protesters put forward five demands: stopping the wastage of the state budget, lowering the prices of basic necessities and fuel, halting the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme and the construction of Red-and-White Village Cooperatives, ending militarism in the civil sphere, and calling on President Prabowo Subianto to admit his mistakes.
Therefore, the circulating video is not a recording of a demonstration on 31 July 2026, but rather documentation of an action that took place on 12 June 2026 and was recirculated with a false narrative.
Regarding the claim that the action was not broadcast on television, the Minister of Communication and Digital (Menkomdigi), Meutya Hafid, emphasised that the government has never restricted the mass media from covering or reporting on demonstrations, provided it is done in accordance with journalistic principles and the Press Law.
‘From the Ministry of Communication and Digital, we have never imposed any prohibition on the mass media from carrying out coverage of any kind, as long as it adheres to journalistic principles and stays within the corridor of the Press Law. So that is not true,’ said Meutya, quoted by ANTARA.
Therefore, the narrative claiming that the video shows a demonstration in Jakarta on 31 July 2026 that escaped television coverage is untrue.
The video is a recording of a demonstration on 12 June 2026 that was recirculated in a misleading context.
Claim: Video showing the situation of a demonstration in Jakarta on 31 July 2026
Rating: Hoax