Sultan Abdurrahman, Jakarta – Police personnel are suspected of assaulting a Tempo journalist who was covering the May Day rally in Semarang, Central Java, on Thursday, May 1, 2025. The peaceful demonstration commemorating International Labor Day turned chaotic when the police responded to a crowd damaging the fence of the Semarang Governor's Office with tear gas and water cannons.
Jamal Abdun Nashr, a Tempo journalist at the scene, was covering the arrest of the protesters when alleged plainclothes police officers attempted to detain him around 5:30 p.m. Jamal reported that several individuals in civilian clothing forcibly dispersed demonstrators from the area in front of the Semarang Governor's Office where the protest was occurring.
Jamal considered the arrest inhumane as it involved dragging and repressive actions. "I tried to record, but they didn't want to be recorded, then I was pulled, taken away, while they tried to grab my phone. I was hit," Jamal said over the phone on Thursday night.
Jamal was only able to free himself from the alleged officers after other journalists shouted at those taking him away. During the incident, which lasted several minutes, Jamal was wearing his journalist identification and informed the individuals holding him that he was a journalist covering the event.
Following this initial incident, Jamal managed to file a report on the police's arrest of the protesters. However, later that night, he experienced further violence from alleged plainclothes police officers.
The second alleged assault on Jamal occurred around 9:00 p.m. At that time, he reported that officers were encircling the crowd at the Diponegoro University Campus in Pleburan, Semarang, approximately 450 meters from the Central Java Governor's Office. The officers were allegedly surrounding the building because protesters had detained a police intelligence officer.
Jamal, along with five other journalists, was monitoring the situation from in front of the building when the alleged officers led some of the protesters out. According to Jamal, the demonstrators were physically assaulted during the arrest.
Jamal and his colleagues then stood up to report the arrest. "We automatically stood up when seeing such a situation," he said.
The alleged officers who arrested the demonstrators then prevented the journalists from approaching and taking photos and videos. Jamal said the situation then escalated. The individuals, alleged to be plainclothes officers, loudly confronted one of the journalists, objecting to being recorded.
Jamal then identified themselves as journalists. "We then tried to neutralize the situation, but it turned out that I was hit several times," he added.
According to Jamal, he was struck at least three times on the head. During the assault, a senior officer from the Central Java Regional Police was reportedly beside him. "He was hugging me, but I was still being hit," he said, noting that the senior officer made no effort to stop the violence.
A representative of the Legal Aid Foundation in Semarang, M Safali, confirmed the alleged assault on the journalist covering Labor Day in Semarang. Safali also stated that several demonstrators, totaling 24 individuals including students and student press organization members, remain detained.
Before the alleged assault on the Tempo journalist, the Head of the Public Relations Division of the Central Java Regional Police, Commissioner Artanto, stated that the police had arrested several Labor Day protesters in Semarang due to the crowd's provocations, saying, "We carried out security or arrests because they had become provocateurs."
As of the writing of this report, Tempo is still seeking confirmation from the Central Java Regional Police regarding the alleged violent incidents against the journalist. Commissioner Artanto has not yet responded to inquiries about the incident.