Thousands of students in at least nine cities across Indonesia took to the streets on Monday demanding an end to what they claimed were ongoing attempts to roll back two decades of political reform in the country. In scenes reminiscent of the student movement that led to the downfall of the New Order Era in 1998, the university students amplified their demands for the government and the House of Representatives to hold off the passage of a number of controversial bills, including a revision to the Criminal Code (KUHP), arguing that the bills threatened democracy and civil liberties. In the capital, thousands of activists and students from various universities thronged in front of the House’s compound on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central Jakarta, blocking road access to Slipi, West Jakarta, as they called for lawmakers to listen to the voice of the people who have rejected controve...

Topics : protest