Vedro Imanuel Girsang, Jakarta – The rally commemorating May Day in front of the Central Java Governor's Office ended in chaos. The commotion began in the late afternoon when the police initiated a series of repressive actions against the demonstrators.

At around 5:30 PM, the police began firing water cannons towards the demonstrators. Not only that, the police also deployed tear gas and shot it towards the crowd. "Demonstrators from several labor representatives were also hard to breathe," wrote the LBH Semarang in its release on Friday, May 2, 2025.

The brutality and repression by the authorities did not stop there. The police chased the demonstrators from the student group into the campus area of Diponegoro University (Undip), Pleburan. Some of the demonstrators were also physically assaulted by the police.

"The police and hundreds of thugs surrounded the Undip campus, where there were approximately 400 students," said the LBH Semarang.

During the rally, the police also detained about 18 demonstrators and subsequently took them to the Semarang Metropolitan Police. Until early this morning, around 4:00 AM local time, there were still 14 people detained by the police and undergoing questioning. "The questioning will continue at 8:00 AM," wrote LBH Semarang in their official Instagram social media post.

The Semarang Metropolitan Police Chief, Commissioner M. Syahduddi, claimed that the demonstrators who were detained by the police were suspected to be an anarchist group. The police accused them of being provocateurs who infiltrated the labor rally.

The police then disbanded the rally as they deemed it to be anarchic. "As the labor demonstrators were about to end the rally, a group of people suspected to be anarchists and students provoked the officers securing the rally," said Syahduddi.

Syahduddi stated that the infiltrating group provoked by burning tires and throwing rocks and bottles at the officers. The police are still investigating the motive behind the provocation of the group suspected of having infiltrated the labor rally.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2002790/how-police-repression-unfolded-during-semarang-may-day-rall