World News – UA – Clashes erupt as thousands of students and workers protest against new Indonesian law

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University students clash with police during protest against government labor reform bill, Jababeka industrial zone, Bekasi, Indonesia on October 7, 2020

Thousands of Indonesian students and workers demonstrated Wednesday against a new law they say cripples workers’ rights and harms the environment, with some clashes with police A student has apparently been shot dead

Authorities in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, have blocked the streets leading to the local parliament building and town hall, where clashes between rock-throwing students and riot police erupted on Tuesday evening when police attempted to disperse the protesters

On Wednesday, more than 3,000 protesters, including workers and college and university students, attempted to reach the heavily guarded parliament building Protesters torched tires near blocked streets and pelted police with stones and gasoline bombs and knocked down a door in Parliament precincts Riot police responded by firing tear gas and cannons water

Smaller protests were also held in other Indonesian cities, including the satellite towns of Jakarta, Tangerang and Bekasi, where large factories are located, and in many towns on the islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi

The protest in Bekasi turned violent in the afternoon, with video obtained by the Associated Press showing a student collapsing three meters from a police barricade after a gunshot hit been heard Other students took him away and his condition was unclear

National police spokesman Argo Yuwono said riot police used only tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters He said authorities are still investigating violence in Bekasi in which students and police were injured

Yuwono urged protesters to express their views in an orderly and good manner, and always wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Thousands of factory workers in Karawang Town in West Java and Serang Town in Banten Province also demonstrated outside their factories

Police in the capital Jakarta blocked union groups from organizing a mass rally in front of Parliament

The new Job Creation Law, which was approved on Monday, is expected to bring sweeping changes to Indonesia’s labor system and natural resource management It amended 79 previous laws, including the Law on labor, land use planning law and environmental management law

It aims to improve bureaucratic efficiency and cut red tape as part of the efforts of President Joko Widodo’s administration to attract more investment to the vast archipelago country, which counts more than 270 million people

Seven parties in the House of Representatives approved the bill while two others rejected it, their members leaving the plenary session

The Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions, known as KSPI, said around 2 million workers representing 32 unions will take part in mass rallies and strikes in various cities for several days starting Tuesday

KSPI Chairman Said Iqbal issued a statement saying the new law would hurt workers, including reducing severance pay, removing restrictions on manual labor for foreign workers, increasing the use of labor outsourcing and converting monthly wages to hourly wages

“We reject all the content of the omnibus law which is very harmful to workers,” said Iqbal “It must be canceled immediately Workers are already suffering a lot from the COVID-19 crisis”

Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia, eagerly courts foreign investors as key drivers of economic growth in a country where nearly half of the population is under 30

Last year Widodo told The Associated Press he would push forward with sweeping and potentially unpopular economic reforms, including more business-friendly labor laws, during his last term. because he is no longer constrained by politics

« Over the next five years I have no political burdens, so making a decision, especially important decisions for the country, in my opinion, it will be easier, » Widodo said.

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Indonesia protest, law, Joko Widodo, Indonesian National Police