JAKARTA: Nearly 600 people are still in detention following deadly anti-government protests in Indonesia last month, police said Monday.
Thousands of people across the Southeast Asian nation held rallies from late August against economic inequality and lavish perks for lawmakers.
Their scope widened after footage circulated of a paramilitary police vehicle running over and killing 21-year-old delivery driver Affan Kurniawan on August 28.
The deputy chief of the National Police, Dedi Prasetyo, told a press conference on Monday that 583 people were “still being processed” over their roles in the protests.
Of the 5,444 people arrested nationwide since the disturbances started, 4,861 have been released, he said.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for legal affairs and human rights, said some of those still detained would probably not be charged with any crime.
“Not all of them will necessarily be referred to court. The cases are still being sorted out to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence,” he told a press conference.
The government was open to the possibility of solving cases with “restorative justice”, Yusril said, adding that some of the detainees were minors.
Human rights organisations said last week that multiple people had been killed in the protests, the most severe of President Prabowo Subianto’s tenure so far.
The state-affiliated National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, told AFP last week that it had received reports that 10 people had been killed and over 900 wounded.
Police have detained seven officers in relation to the incident that killed Affan.
Two of them have been found to have violated police ethics codes.
One officer has been dishonourably dismissed from the force, and another was demoted.
Police in the capital Jakarta said last week they had also detained six people for posting online content deemed provocative, including a female TikTok user whose video was seen more than 10 million times.
They could face a maximum of four years in prison if found guilty of inciting people to riot or cause violence.