Overview
- Hundreds to around 2,000 students gathered in Jakarta on Friday, June 12, 2026, trying to march to central landmarks and clashing with police and military officers who set up barricades.
- Protest organisers set out five demands that include reversing this week's gasoline price rise, cutting what they call wasteful state spending, and halting the free‑meals and village cooperative programmes.
- Authorities deployed large security forces, with more than 6,000 police and soldiers reported in the capital, and blocked routes to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and presidential palace, producing scuffles as some protesters tried to push through.
- Students linked the protests to economic pressure from higher global oil prices tied to the U.S.‑Iran war and to a weak rupiah, while critics pointed to a massive graft probe and the firing of the free‑meals programme chief after reports of financial leakage and food‑poisoning incidents.
- The rallies revive a pattern of student mobilization in Indonesia and raise concerns about democratic backsliding as protesters warn that expanded military roles in civilian affairs could threaten freedoms and political stability.