Indonesia charges four after fuel price protests turn violent

SURABAYA, June 29 — Indonesian authorities charged four people after an anti-government rally in the country’s second largest city, a local police official said Sunday.

Around 100 people gathered near a government building in Surabaya on Friday, AFP journalists estimated, to protest a fuel price hike and a free school meals programme which has been blighted by mass food poisonings and corruption claims.

Some demonstrators hurled objects including firecrackers and rocks, Surabaya police chief Luthfie Sulistiawan told reporters, prompting officers to take “firm actions” to disperse them.

Protests erupted in several Indonesian cities this month after the government hiked prices of non-subsidised gasoline by around 30 per cent, seeking to alleviate budget pressures as the Middle East war chokes global oil supplies.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy where fuel is heavily subsidised, is an oil producer but nevertheless a net importer.

Authorities arrested 24 people on Friday and released most of them without charge, Luthfie said Sunday.

“We had named four people as suspects for property destruction and assault against officers,” he said.

Six people are still under investigation after authorities detected drugs in their systems, Luthfie added.

Thousands of students have taken to the streets in the capital Jakarta to oppose both the fuel price hikes and to demand a halt to a multi-billion-dollar free meal scheme, touted by the government as a way to tackle child malnutrition.

Critics argue that programme, which has been partly suspended, is costly, mired in accusations of corruption and linked to mass food poisonings, after tens of thousands of people fell ill since it was launched. — AFP