August 19, 2026 | 08:07 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Jakarta Metropolitan Police have released 21 people who were detained ahead of a student protest organized by the University of Indonesia (UI) at the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
The 21 people were detained after police found them carrying 12 flares and six bottles, which officers suspected could be used to make Molotov cocktails.
“All 21 people have been released,” Jakarta Metropolitan Police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Budi Hermanto said at the police headquarters in South Jakarta on Wednesday, August 19.
Budi said the Jakarta police law enforcement task force had provided preventive education to those detained.
“We do not only rely on repressive law enforcement. Repression is ultimum remedium, or the last resort,” he said.
Police also found two people carrying a knife and a machete. One was a protest participant and the other was an ambulance driver.
Both have also been released and remain witnesses in the case, Budi said.
Police Detain 21 Ahead of Protest
Police had previously detained 21 people at several locations around the protest site.
Budi said the people were detained on suspicion that they intended to cause unrest.
“At the moment, they are being questioned at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police's General Criminal Investigation Directorate,” Budi said on Tuesday, August 18.
He said the group had been found carrying potentially dangerous items to the protest site, including flares and other equipment allegedly intended to assemble Molotov cocktails.
According to Budi, the people were not believed to be part of the student groups organizing the protest.
He alleged that their intention was to provoke conflict between security officers and protesters.
The arrests took place ahead of a protest titled “Reclaim Independence,” organized by the UI Student Executive Board (BEM UI) and several other student groups on Tuesday afternoon.
The demonstration was held a day after Indonesia celebrated its Independence Day.
BEM UI Questions Indonesia’s Independence
BEM UI Chair Yatalathof Ma'shum Imawan said the students took to the streets not to join the country's Independence Day celebrations.
“But to ask loudly: What kind of independence are we celebrating?” he said in a statement on Tuesday, August 18.
Yatalathof argued that Indonesia's sovereignty had been compromised by trade agreements that he said catered to foreign interests.
At the same time, he said, people's voices were being silenced and critical groups were being arbitrarily detained by authorities.
Vedro Imanuel Girsang and Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to the writing of this article.
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