The protests were held at the Arjuna Widjaja Statue (Horse Statue) in the National Monument (Monas) area, Central Jakarta, and the DPR/MPR (Parliament) Building, here on Tuesday.
"There are around four thousand joint personnel of the TNI (military), Polri (police), and the Jakarta Administration, who are on standby at Monas, to anticipate the protest against the fuel price hike," Head of the Central Jakarta Police Headquarters Adjunct Senior Commissioner Saufi Salamun stated here on Tuesday.
Dozens of members of the All-Indonesian Market Traders' Association (APPSI), NGO Gema Keadilan, and the Indonesian Muslim Student Alliance held rallies for around an hour, starting at 12:30 local time.
Later, at around 2 p.m. local time, university students, who are members of the BEM Nusantara, also staged a rally to express their rejection to a fuel price hike.
The protest at the Monas area, which was marked by the burning of tires, ended at around 3 p.m. local time, and the students marched to the Parliament Building to continue the rally.
"For the Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta) area, some three thousand to five thousand workers are estimated to join the rally held in front of the Parliament Building," President of the Indonesian Labor Union Confederation (KSPI) Said Iqbal remarked.
The workers voiced three issues during the rally: their rejection of the Omnibus Law, the rejection of the fuel price hike, and their demand for increasing workers' basic salaries (UMK/UMS) by 13 percent.
Meanwhile, at a separate location, Central Jakarta Police Chief Senior Commissioner Komarudin stated that joint personnel deployed to secure demonstrations related to the increase in fuel prices at the Monas and the Parliament Building totalled seven thousand.
"What we have readied are seven thousand joint military and police personnel to guard the Horse Statue area, Pertamina, and the DPR (Parliament) Building," he remarked at the Parliament Building in the Senayan area.
The protests were held following a decision of the central government to increase the prices of subsidized fuel starting Saturday.
The price of subsidized Pertalite fuel increased, from Rp7,650 per liter to Rp10 thousand per liter; subsidized diesel, from Rp5,150 per liter to Rp6,800 per liter; and non-subsidized Pertamax, from Rp12 thousand to Rp14,500 per liter.
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Translator: Ricky Prayoga, Fardah
Editor: Sri Haryati
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