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300 injured after Indonesian protesters clash with police

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JAKARTA: More than 300 people were injured after police clashed with protesters in the Indonesian capital during a rally against proposed changes to the criminal code


that critics say would threaten civil liberties, police said on Wednesday.


Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse some 3,000 students who gathered outside the parliamentary building in Jakarta on Tuesday demanding lawmakers withdraw the criminal code bill.


At least 254 students were briefly hospitalised, while 11 others were still being treated, Jakarta police chief Gatot Eddy Pramono said at a news conference on Wednesday.


Riot police also battled rock-throwing protesters in Makassar on Sulawesi island and Medan on Sumatra island, local TV stations reported.


The House of Representatives had been due to pass the draft revisions to the penal code on Tuesday, but decided to postpone a vote on the bill at the request of President Joko Widodo.


Lawmakers also postponed deliberations on three other controversial bills, parliament speaker Bambang Soesatyo told reporters.


Anyone who insults the president or vice president could be handed a prison term of up to four-and-a-half years. This was decriminalised by the Constitutional Court in 2016 after a legal challenge by citizens.


The protesters also demanded the government revoke recent revisions to a law governing the country’s anti-corruption commission. — dpa


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