A demonstration in front of the National Democratic Party's headquarters in support of a former Metro TV reporter on Wednesday ended in disorder, as protesters and journalists were allegedly attacked by party personnel.
Nineteen people associated with the Aliansi Metro, or Melawan Topeng Restorasi (Against Restoration's Mask), showed their support for Luviana, a former assistant producer with Metro TV who was allegedly fired by the news channel for her constant protests over employees' welfare and the company's poor management.
Luviana previously stated that the dismissal was also prompted by her and some of her former colleagues' intention to establish a worker union to push for better assessment of employee work performance, among other things.
The demonstrators urged Surya Paloh, the owner of Metro TV and recent founder of the National Democratic Party (Nasdem), to rehire Luviana.
The protest began at 1 p.m. outside Nasdem's headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday. By around 2:10 p.m., some 30 people stormed out of the building and demanded that the protestors disband immediately.
The Nasdem people threatened TV journalists at the site and told them not to broadcast the event, according to Gatra magazine. They then allegedly attacked protestors and destroyed equipment.
As a result, a vehicle used in the demonstration was wrecked. "They forbade me to take footage, [and threatened] to seize and destroy my camera," a TV journalist who wished to remain unidentified said, as quoted by Gatra.
"They damaged our commando car and prohibited anyone holding a camera and mobile phones [to take footage]," Kustiah, a spokesperson for Aliansi Metro, said.
A Twitter account devoted to Luviana's case, @DukungLuviana (Support Luviana), tweeted a picture of the cars smashed windshield.
The police officers who were present at the protest – though there were less than 10 of them – prevented the attackers from overturning the car.
"We regret the act of thuggery by the Nasdem people. We are advocating for human rights, but they repeated another human rights violation instead," Kustia, who is also a member of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said as quoted by Tribunnews.com.
Nasdem Chairman Patrice Rio Capella denied his party ordered the attack. "We regret the incident. But certainly, there was no command to carry out the attack against fellow demonstrators," he said, as reported by news portal viva.co.id.
Patrice argued that staging a protest regarding a former Metro TV employee at Nasdem's headquarters was inappropriate.
"Our party and our mass organization did not know anything about this matter. I predict that this has been politicized," Patrice added. He suggested the protestors channel their complaints to Metro TV.