JAKARTA, Indonesia – About 1,000 Indonesian protesters angered by a student demonstrator's death after his arrest burned cars and hurled stones at police guarding the Parliament on Tuesday, witnesses said.
Participants in the demonstration in Jakarta also demanded that the government revoke a 30 percent fuel price increase imposed last month. The dead student had been protesting the price hike.
Tuesday's protesters started at Parliament, then headed to other parts of the capital where they blocked traffic, vandalized property and set fire to government vehicles, said police spokesman Lt. Col. Untung Yoga Ana.
Police used a water cannon to douse the flames and disperse protesters trying to break into the grounds of Parliament. Later, a car was also set alight outside the Catholic Atmajaya University on one of the city's busiest commuter routes, snarling traffic for miles.
The main group carried a fake coffin and pictures of Maftuh Fauzi, a 27-year-old student at the National University who had been among 100 fuel-price protesters arrested May 24. He died in hospital last Friday, but there were conflicting reports about the cause.
The Indonesian Doctors' Association was seeking clarification from Pertamina Hospital, which said Fauzi died of HIV/AIDS. Students say he was beaten by police and died of his injuries.
A National Human Rights Commission investigation concluded Tuesday that the police raid on Fauzi's university campus violated the students' rights and called for an independent autopsy for Fauzi, said commissioner Nur Kholis.
Indonesia's government raised gasoline pump prices by nearly 30 percent on May 23 because of the surging cost of oil and gas on the global market. The move triggered generally peaceful protests throughout the vast Indonesian archipelago, a nation of 235 million people.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox