Indonesia riots: Prabowo Subianto tells supporters to go home after unrest over election results leaves six dead
- Some 200 injured and more than 100 arrested after clashes between protesters and security forces
- Anti-China chants heard as rioters set fire to a police dormitory and vehicles
A protest coordinator, who declined to be named, said he received a text message from a “higher rank” that Prabowo had asked demonstrators to stop their protests for the day and should go home to rest.
Protesters in front of the Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) head office in central Jakarta began to disperse in the early hours of Thursday, with some of them moving back to Petamburan, where the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) headquarters are located. The crowds in Slipi, west of Jakarta, also dispersed.
At 1.30am, however, some of the protesters who left the Bawaslu headquarters began gathering again in Sabang. Despite police officers attempting to push them back by firing tear gas, the numbers had increased significantly by 2.15am.
Meanwhile, most of the protesters in Petamburan were resting around the Petamburan mosque, with foods and drinks brought to them in two cars. The drivers declined to say who had paid for the items.
The riots have claimed the lives of at least six people, with the violence spreading across the country and more people seeking to enter the capital to join the demonstrations.