Fery Firmansyah, Jakarta – In the lead up to the extended long-weekend holiday, Jakarta will be rocked by nine protest actions on Thursday March 6. Road users are advised to be careful or better still to avoid stretches of road being used for actions it they don’t wish to be caught in traffic.
According to information from the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Center, three demonstrations will take place starting at 9am involving around 100-200 people.
The first of these will be held by employees of the PT. Angkasa Pura state-owned airport operator who will be demanding welfare improvements in front of the Department of Labour offices and the Ministry for State-Owned Enterprises.
Around the same time the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) will hold a demonstration at the Department of Maritime and Fishery Affairs on Jl. M. Ridwan Rais. They will be demanding that the government provide protection to Indonesian fishers.
Also at 9am, supporters of the South Sulawesi candidate governor and deputy governor Amir Syam-Mansyur Ramli meanwhile will be demanding that the Supreme Court not interfere in the gubernatorial elections.
At 10am, a protest by the Student and Youth Environment Concern Front (FMPPL) will take pace at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta demanding that the government revoke the operating licence of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper.
At around the same time, some 200 former residents of the navy’s Satrudal barracks in Tangerang will hold a protest action in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta. They will be demanding that the government halt the forced eviction of the Satrudal barrack occupants.
Just as vibrant as the other actions, around 100 protesters from Indonesian Sailors Union (KPI) plan to go to the Iranian Embassy in the Central Jakarta neighborhood of Menteng to demand the release of Mansour Osanto (the president of the Iranian Bus Workers Uion) and other trade union activists being detained by the government.
Also at the Iranian Embassy, the Indonesian Revolutionary Party (PRI) will hold an action supporting Resolution 1803 on uranium development in Iran.
Two protest actions will take place at 2pm. At the Supreme Court, an action will be held by around 100 protesters from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) and the Social Advocacy Team Against Anti-Human Rights Bylaws (TAMAPP-HAM). At the State Palace meanwhile, 50 students from the Trisakti University will be organising an action.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
