6 Dead as Protests Turn Violent Following Indonesia Election Loss (+Video)


6 Dead as Protests Turn Violent Following Indonesia Election Loss (+Video)

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Six people have been killed and 200 injured during mass rallies against the re-election of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Police in Indonesia fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators in central Jakarta, after supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto began setting fire to buildings and vehicles and pelted officers with rocks and burning objects.

National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said protests against the final results of last month's presidential election, which showed Prabowo losing to incumbent President Joko Widodo, turned violent late on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported.

Police are investigating reports that at least one person was killed in the disturbances, but Dedi denied live rounds had been used.

Local media on Wednesday reported six people had been killed, citing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan who visited city hospitals in the morning. He said 200 people had been injured. The governor's office did not answer calls seeking comment from Al Jazeera. Nor did the police spokesman.

Earlier, he said that dozens of people had been detained.

KompasTV, an Indonesian news channel, showed protesters throwing rocks, facing off against hundreds of riot police in a neighborhood in the center of the capital.

Prabowo, a retired general who has been accused of human rights abuses, has claimed widespread cheating in the April 17 election but has provided no credible evidence to back up his allegations.

Several thousand people on Tuesday took to the streets around the office of the elections commission after the agency confirmed Widodo had won a second presidential term with 55.5 percent of the vote, compared with 44.5 percent for Prabowo.

Those protests ended peacefully, but the situation turned ugly when some demonstrators refused to leave the area.

Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said police responded when protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and burning objects. Earlier, some people had set market stalls on fire.

More than 30,000 troops have been deployed across the capital amid reports of protests after the publication of the official election results.

Most Visited in World
Top World stories
Top Stories