By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Indonesian students and civil society groups protested on Wednesday in the capital Jakarta and other cities against President Prabowo Subianto's policies, including the handling of ongoing forest fires.
Worsened by the El Niño weather pattern that leaves peatland vulnerable to fires, Indonesia has been faced with its worst forest fires and resulting haze in 11 years, increasing respiratory illnesses and polluting the air of neighbouring countries Malaysia and Singapore.
Protesters crowded a Jakarta landmark roundabout, with some wearing gas masks, holding up signs protesting over forest fires and demanding the government designate the blazes as a national disaster.
The government's communications office welcomed input from students in a statement late on Wednesday, adding it had prosecuted companies linked to the fires, sent aid to haze-stricken provinces, and it would keep monitoring the fires.
Some demonstrators carried signs that said "If we burn, you burn with us," and held up the three-finger sign of protest – a reference to "The Hunger Games" movie that has been adopted as a symbol by many youth protest movements globally.
Anggi Aurien, 28, had been wearing a gas mask for three hours at the landmark, protesting about the forest fires that have killed wildlife.
“Animals don’t have a mind of their own. If we kill them, what’s the difference between us and them?” she said.
Other signs included photos of the orangutan, which bears the brunt of the fires, and a cardboard cutout of Prabowo.
Other students, including from the University of Indonesia, were blocked by dozens of police and military personnel, leading to some scuffles.
"Revolution! Revolution!" protesters chanted.
Ezra Al Barra, a student from the University of Padjadjaran, said the fires were "our collective anger," adding students came from other regions outside Jakarta.
Students also rallied in Makassar, in South Sulawesi, and Bandung, in West Java, with similar demands. Dozens of them on motorbikes filled the main roads.
Protesters called for the government to halt spending on populist programmes such as Prabowo's free meals scheme, among other demands.
PRABOWO'S POPULARITY
The protests, the second in a week, came as Prabowo's approval ratings have fallen steadily since late last year, according to surveys by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting, two years into his presidency.
Indonesia has prosecuted companies allegedly linked to the fires and tried methods of modifying the weather to induce rain.
Indonesia's last major protest took place in August, when hundreds were detained.
In 2025, weeks-long nationwide protests broke out in Indonesia after the police killing of a motorcycle taxi driver, with several more people killed during the unrest.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto, Johan Purnomo, Heru Asprihanto and Ananda Teresia; Editing by David Stanway, Alex Richardson and Keith Weir)
