JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 An angry mob set fire to a local parliament building in an Indonesian provincial capital, leaving at least three people dead and five others hospitalized, officials said.<\/p>\n
The blaze in Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi province, began late Friday. Television reports showed the provincial council building ablaze overnight, causing the area to turn an eerie orange color.<\/p>\n
Rescuers retrieved three bodies on Saturday morning, while five people were hospitalized with burns or with broken bones after jumping from the building, said Fadli Tahar, a local disaster official.<\/p>\n
Protesters in West Java\u2019s Bandung city also set a regional parliament ablaze on Friday, but no casualties were reported. In Surabaya, Indonesia\u2019s second-largest city, protesters stormed the regional police headquarters after destroying fences and torching vehicles. Security forces fired tear gas and used water cannons, but demonstrators fought back with fireworks and wooden clubs.<\/p>\n
Foreign embassies in Jakarta, including the U.S., Australia and Southeast Asian countries, have advised their citizens in Indonesia to avoid demonstration areas or large public gatherings.<\/p>\n
Calm largely returned to Indonesia<\/a> \u2018s capital on Saturday as authorities cleaned up burned-out cars, police offices and bus shelters that were set ablaze by angry protesters.<\/a><\/p>\n Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto<\/a> canceled his planned visit to China<\/a> next week, citing escalating nationwide protests.<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision was taken with great caution while maintaining good relations with the Chinese government,\u201d said Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi in a statement, adding that Subianto has conveyed his apology to Beijing.<\/p>\n Subianto was among several heads of state and government invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> to attend the Victory Day Parade in Beijing<\/a> on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n Protests in several regions have escalated into riots, with buildings and public facilities set on fire and even police headquarters attacked, National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a news conference Saturday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch situations can no longer be considered freedom of expression, but rather criminal acts,\u201d he said, adding that the police and the military \u201cwould immediately act to restore public order.\u201d<\/p>\n Five days of protests<\/a> began in Jakarta<\/a> on Monday, sparked by reports that all 580 lawmakers receive a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3,075) in addition to their salaries. The allowance, introduced last year, is almost 10 times the Jakarta minimum wage.<\/p>\n Critics argue the new allowance is not only excessive but also insensitive at a time when most people are grappling with soaring living costs and taxes and rising unemployment.<\/p>\n The protests grew wider and more violent following the death of 21-year-old ride-hailing driver Affan Kurniawan. A video on social media apparently showing his death during a rally in the capital Jakarta on Thursday shocked the nation and spurred an outcry against the security forces.<\/p>\n Kurniawan was reportedly completing a food delivery order when he was caught in the clash. Witnesses told local television that the armored car from the National Police\u2019s Mobile Brigade unit suddenly sped through the crowd of demonstrators and hit Kurniawan, causing him to fall. Instead of stopping, the car ran over him.<\/p>\n On Saturday, hundreds of ride-hailing drivers and students in Bali staged a solidarity demonstration over Kurniawan\u2019s death in a rare protest on the tourist island. They called for police reform and the release of those arrested during the protests.<\/p>\n Protesters marched to Bali\u2019s regional police headquarters and riot police fired rounds of tear gas at them to push back those who tried to reach the heavily guarded compound. Protesters responded by throwing rocks, bottles and flares.<\/p>\n Clashes between riot police and protesters erupted in multiple cities across Indonesia on Friday, including in Medan, Solo, Yogyakarta, Magelang, Malang, Bengkulu, Pekanbaru and Manokwari in easternmost Papua region.<\/p>\n Some 950 people were arrested in rallies in Jakarta alone by Thursday, according to the National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM. <\/p>\n Authorities said about 25 officers were hospitalized with serious injuries after being attacked by protesters in Jakarta. The Komnas HAM believed that the number of injured people on the community side is much bigger.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Dita Alangkara in Jakarta, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 An angry mob set fire to a local parliament building in an Indonesian provincial…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[105187,3881,13214,13212,4216,57,2055,9996,82643,50,47502,402,103,107,11762],"class_list":{"0":"post-187811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-amnesty-international","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-asia-pacific","11":"tag-china-government","12":"tag-fires","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-government-and-politics","15":"tag-indonesia","16":"tag-indonesia-government","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-prabowo-subianto","19":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","20":"tag-world","21":"tag-world-news","22":"tag-xi-jinping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115119359590263761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}