At least three people were killed and five other people were injured in Indonesia after demonstrators set fire to a regional building in the Parliament, the authorities announced on Saturday, marking the first major test for the new government of President Prabowo Suubianto.
The country’s disaster management agency said in a statement that the cause of deaths remained vague after the fire on Friday evening in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.
According to the Antara news agency, the dead victims were trapped in the building in flames. The catastrophe agency said two of the injuries caused by people who jumped from the building.
Demonstrations broke out in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, this week about the wages of the legislators and intensified Friday after a shielded police vehicle fatally struck Affan Kurniawan, a drug driver. The demonstrators went to the headquarters of the Mobile Police Brigade in central Jakarta on Friday and some sought to storm the complex.
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Prabowo, who took office in October from last year, visited the driver’s home on Friday, offering condolences to the parents of the victims and committing to supervise the investigation into his death.
The capital’s police chief, ASEP Edi Suheri, confirmed that during the clashes Thursday, a armored police vehicle hit and killed Kurniawan, who worked for the Gojek and Grab driving services. The police chief continued to apologize to the family of the victims.
Friday, the demonstrations led the soldiers in certain regions, while people from all backgrounds went down to the parliament of the country on Friday and to the police headquarters in Jakarta. Protesters were reported to throw stones on the doors while singing “Killer! Killer!”
While the demonstrations continued in the big cities of Bandung and Yogyakarta, the local media reported an isolated looting in Jakarta and damage to several transport facilities on Friday.
