Farouk Arnaz – Police arrested 54 people in Salemba, Central Jakarta, on Thursday evening when the protest against the government's plan to raise fuel prices turned violent.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said 54 people were arrested because they were allegedly involved in setting several vehicles belonging to the police on fire and they were caught carrying Molotov cocktails, stakes and slingshots during the protest.

Police have been criticized for attacking the offices of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Indonesian Administrative Foundation (YAI) on nearby Jl. Diponegoro during the violent clash, but Saud said the officers were only trying to chase students who had set fire to the vehicles.

"They had no intention to conduct a peaceful protest; they want anarchy," Saud told a press conference at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta on Friday.

Rumors spread on Thursday evening that two students died in the violent Salemba protest, but Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto quickly denied it.

In a press conference held in his office in Jakarta on Friday morning, Djoko said no one died in the incident, although five students, one security guard and the chief of the Senen Police precinct were injured and being treated at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, which is near the scene of the protests. (BeritaSatu/JG)