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Asia Pacific|Protesters in Indonesia Focus Rage on Politicians, Ransacking Their Homes
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/world/asia/indonesia-protest-politicians-ransack-loot.html
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After a week of demonstrations, protesters on Sunday directly targeted the people they blamed for economic challenges and police brutality.
Aug. 31, 2025, 4:08 a.m. ET
Rioters in Indonesia ransacked, vandalized and looted the homes of lawmakers and the country’s finance minister on Sunday, a week after daily demonstrations began as a rejection of government policies and police brutality.
The protests, which have left at least five dead and hundreds injured, are the worst crisis for the country since President Prabowo Subianto took office almost a year ago. The demonstrations were initially driven by discontent over rising unemployment and inflation but morphed into a denunciation of police brutality after a motorcycle taxi driver was killed at a protest on Thursday.
That killing set off a wave of violent protests that has spread across several Indonesian cities. Police officers in riot gear have fired tear gas at protesters in the capital, as demonstrators burned cars and torched police outposts.
In the early hours of Sunday, hundreds of people stormed the home of Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani, in the city of South Tangerang. Witnesses said the crowd forced their way into the house, carrying away valuables, local media reported. Ms. Sri was not there when the looters arrived.
It was one of several episodes of looting that intensified over the weekend. On Saturday, protesters stormed a house belonging to a senior lawmaker of the National Democratic Party in Jakarta, destroying his car and carting off what appeared to be luxury bags, watches, a television, fitness equipment and even his bathtub, according to videos posted on social media. The lawmaker, Ahmad Sahroni, had earlier said that people who called for the dissolution of parliament were “the dumbest people in the world,” and he later called the protesters thugs.
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