Indonesians protesting jobs law met with tear gas, water cannons
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Riot police officers fired tear gas and water cannons here Thursday as they tried to disperse large crowds of people protesting a sweeping new law that slashes protections for workers and the environment.
In cities and towns throughout Indonesia’s vast archipelago, tens of thousands of workers took part in the third day of a national strike against the deregulation law.
Union leaders denounced parliament and President Joko Widodo for pushing the measure through.
In the center of Jakarta, the capital, protesters assembled in defiance of a city ban on gathering during the pandemic and tried to march to the presidential palace.
Some threw rocks at police and set fires in the city center, burning a police post and two transit stops.
Police said officers had detained more than 800 people in
Jakarta, while leaders of the national strike distanced themselves from the violence and said that the protests in the city were not affiliated with the labor action.
Around the country, the strike has been largely peaceful, although protesters clashed with police in some cities.
Organizers said protests were held in more than 60 locations, stretching from Aceh province in the west to Papua province more than 3,000 miles east. They estimated about 1 million people joined the walkouts each day, though that figure couldn’t be verified.
Opponents of the new statute, a 905-page omnibus measure that amends more than 75 laws, say it benefits the wealthy elite by allowing companies to cut workers’ pay, eliminate days off and hire contract workers in place of permanent employees.
It will affect women most of all, they say, by allowing companies to eliminate paid maternity and menstrual leave.
“The president is paying back the financiers who helped him win the election, not ordinary people who voted for him,” said Ermawati, 37, a leader of a factory strike in East Java who, like many Indonesians, uses one name. “They are killing us with the omnibus law.”
Workers say their viewpoint wasn’t considered during deliberations.
The deregulation law also is opposed by environmentalists who say it will exempt many projects from environmental review, derailing efforts to halt the burning of rainforests and adding to carbon emissions that fuel climate change.