"The vice president was at his office as the protests unfolded. He had just concluded his working visit in North Sumatra on Thursday," Talisa said in a written statement received here on Saturday.
She explained that Gibran was in North Sumatra to attend a Karo Batak Protestant Church (GBKP) conference in Deli Serdang District.
Talisa also pointed to the clarification issued by the management of the facility where Gibran was falsely reported to have played padel tennis.
She urged the public to verify information before spreading it online.
"I encourage people to filter all information before sharing it with the public, especially such claims that may serve as provocations," Talisa emphasized.
Meanwhile, the West Jakarta-based Anwa Racquet Club, which had been mentioned in the allegation, confirmed that Gibran had not played padel at their venue during the Jakarta protest.
"We affirm that the information is incorrect. We never received any official visit from the vice president at our facility," the club stated on its official Instagram account.
The denial comes as a new wave of protests on Friday (August 29) swept through Jakarta, Bandung, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Makassar, and other major cities following the death of 21-year-old Affan Kurniawan, an online motorcycle taxi driver who was run over by a police vehicle during a rally near the Parliament Complex the day before.
Violence escalated after nightfall, with rioters damaging public facilities. Local parliament buildings were reported burned in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.
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Translator: Rio Feisal, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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