Violence erupted outside the Corruption Eradication Commission on Thursday when an unruly demonstration became a free-for-all brawl involving bodyguards of Democratic Party Chairman Anas Urbaninggrum against protesters, photographers and journalists.

The situation at the antigraft agency in South Jakarta began to deteriorate as the group of noisy demonstrators confronted Anas, who has been implicated in a massive corruption scandal involving construction of the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

Detik.com reported that Anas's bodyguards intervened striking out at the demonstrators before turning their attention on the photographers.

This prompted the photographers to retaliate, backed up by other members of the press, the news portal reported. Police were forced to intervene to restore some semblance of calm.