Scores of students from the People’s Movement Against the IMF-World Bank have held a protest action in front of the Bali regional police headquarters to protest policies that restrict public activities for the duration of an upcoming IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali.

The action, which was held on Friday October 5 and started at 9.30am, began with a long-march from the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) offices to the police headquarters. Action coordinator Dimas said the action was to protest polices that restrict public activities.

Tensions rose between demonstrators and police after protesters were asked to shift the demonstration to a different location. The students however held firm at the original location.

The group made three demands. First they called for an end to policies and regulations that muzzle and curb the ordinary people’s rights to freedom of association, expression and organisation, particularly in the context of opposing the annual IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali.

Second, they called for the repeal of Bali regional police notification Number B/8012/IX/YAN.2.12/2018/Dit Intelkam.

Third, that as part of upholding democracy, they called on the authorities provide guarantees of protection for civil society activities responding to the IMF-World Bank meeting.

During the action they also brought various kinds of paraphernalia and shouted slogans such as “Jokowi-JK Are American Lackeys” [referring to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla], “The Jokowi-JK Regime is Anti-People, Anti-Democracy And Anti-the Poor” and “Jokowi is a Fascist”.

As of posting this report, police have held an audience with several representatives of the protesters while the remainder continued with the action in front of the police headquarters. (ban)

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Puluhan Aktivis Demo Protes IMF-World Bank, Sebut Jokowi Fasis!.]

Source: https://kabarbali.com/puluhan-aktivis-demo-protes-imf-world-bank-sebut-jokowi-fasis/