Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia has urged the police to lift the ban prohibiting students and citizens from holding a demonstration at Bundaran HI, a busy roundabout in Jakarta. The call coincides with today's mass demonstration organized by an alliance of students and civil society groups on Youth Pledge Day.
Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia Usman Hamid stated that the core duty of the National Police (Polri) is not to restrict demonstrations, but rather to facilitate and guarantee a safe environment for citizens to assemble peacefully. He emphasized that Bundaran HI remains a public space.
"The ban on public actions in this area lacks legal justification, necessity, proportionality, and accountability. Let the people express their aspirations peacefully," Usman said in an official statement.
According to Amnesty, security personnel have repeatedly blocked student demonstrators heading toward Bundaran HI, citing that the traffic circle is a vital hub for public transit and economic activity. Amnesty pressed the government to view the growing public unrest as legitimate aspirations holding protected rights to expression.
Usman stressed that the state must not resort to repressive tactics, ban mass gatherings, or use violence and arbitrary arrests. He defended the #IndonesiaSadar (Indonesia Awake) slogan and its accompanying three-finger salute as legitimate forms of expression, asserting, "It is not a slogan that incites hostility, discrimination, or violence."
Demonstrators representing multiple universities, student movements, and civil society groups began assembling near the Thamrin Nine building in Central Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon, October 28, 2026. On-the-ground observations showed that at approximately 2:30 p.m., the crowd waved flags from the Student Executive Board (BEM) of the University of Indonesia, BEM Airlangga University, the Indonesian Women Student Front (Seruni), and Pembaru Indonesia, before attempting to march toward Bundaran HI, where police officers quickly deployed barricades to block their path.
Social and Political Coordinator of BEM UI Hafidz Hernanda was seen managing the crowd's movement toward the Bundaran HI roundabout, but police forces held them back. Earlier, BEM UI used its official Instagram account to rally public support for the street demonstration, with the #IndonesiaSadar action scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.
The Committee to Save the People's Sovereignty, also known as the Call for People's Sovereignty (Sadar), emphasized in a written statement on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, that citizens are not mere objects in state governance. The Sadar Committee brings together student leadership bodies including BEM UI, the Student Family of the Bandung Institute of Technology (KM ITB), BEM Padjadjaran University, BEM Diponegoro University, BEM Semarang State University, the Student Union of Gadjah Mada University (KM UGM), BEM UPN Veteran Yogyakarta, BEM Airlangga University, and the Student Executive of Brawijaya University.
The Sadar Committee is calling on the Prabowo-Gibran administration to answer for its campaign promises outlined in Asta Cita and uphold the mandate of the 1945 Constitution. Their primary demand urges the declaration of a national disaster status over ongoing forest and land fires, corporate accountability trials for environmental damage, and complete integration of agrarian governance, while the second demand calls for an end to wasteful budget expenditures serving political motives disguised as populist programs, including the Free Nutritious Meals and Red and White Village Cooperatives initiatives.
The third demand calls for reducing higher education costs and guaranteeing equitable access to basic public services, while the fourth urges an end to weaponizing laws for political gain alongside stronger measures against corruption, collusion, and nepotism. Their fifth demand presses the government to restore freedom of expression, establish human rights tribunals for past violations, and halt the militarization of civil spaces.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, BEM UI wrote: "It is time for the public to speak up and reclaim the democratic space that belongs to them." The Sadar Committee described these five core demands as an essential check on public office accountability, political commitments, and constitutional mandates.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2122542/amnesty-urges-police-to-lift-bundaran-hi-protest-ba