Police block students' protest vehicles, prompting long march to Jakarta's Bundaran HI

Hundreds of students, predominantly from the University of Indonesia's Student Executive Body (BEM UI), embarked on a march to Jakarta's Bundaran HI roundabout on Friday. Their planned demonstration was rerouted after police intercepted their buses in the Semanggi area, preventing them from reaching their intended protest site.

The students, who had departed from the parliament complex around 1 p.m., engaged in a heated debate with police officers who had set up a perimeter. They questioned the authorities' decision to prohibit their protest at Bundaran HI, asserting that their grievances extended beyond the parliament building.

Police officials urged the students to hold their demonstration within the parliamentary complex. AKBP Adri Desas Furyanto, Head of Planning for the Central Jakarta Metro Police, controversially stated that if the students insisted on proceeding to Bundaran HI, they could run him over, implying the police would not obstruct them if they chose such a drastic measure.

Despite the police intervention and the debate, the students ultimately disembarked from their vehicles and continued their journey to Bundaran HI on foot, covering the approximately 6.5-kilometer distance. Their protest was set to address five key demands, including calls for the government to cease wasteful spending of the state budget, lower the prices of basic necessities and fuel, halt specific development programs, end civil militarism, and urge President Prabowo Subianto to acknowledge government mistakes.