Three Indonesian government workers were killed on Friday after trying to escape from a burning building in Makassar, an official said, as isolated protests spread across the country and into a broader rebuke of President Prabowo Subianto and his policies.
The workers jumped from the building’s third floor after protesters set it on fire, M. Fadli Tahar, the acting head of the Makassar Regional Disaster Management Agency, said on Saturday.
Dozens of cars and motorcycles were damaged in the protests. Photographs and videos posted on social media by the All-Indonesia Students’ Union, which organized the demonstrations, showed buses and motorcycles set on fire.
Protest organizers have not yet announced whether there were would be more demonstrations on Saturday.
The protests, which started on Monday in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, have quickly spread across the country, becoming a test for Mr. Prabowo, who took office in October to lead the nation of 284 million people.
On Thursday night, a police vehicle trying to disperse protesters struck and killed Affan Kurniawan, 21, motorcycle taxi driver who was his family’s breadwinner. Officials have ordered an investigation into his death, and Mr. Prabowo visited his family on Friday and offered support, according to Ahmad Riza Patria, a government minister.
The police violence against protesters this past week has revived many Indonesians’ fears that democracy and civil rights may suffer under Mr. Prabowo, a former general. He was discharged from the military in 1998 for his involvement in the abduction and torture of pro-democracy activists under the rule of the dictator Suharto, Mr. Prabowo’s former father-in-law.
The protesters have called for an end to housing allowances for lawmakers, which they see as lavish in the middle of Indonesia’s economic troubles. Consumer prices are rising quickly and the unemployment rate is on track to be the highest in Southeast Asia this year, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
By Friday, the demonstrations had spread to at least a half-dozen cities, with some growing violent. In Jakarta, police officers in riot gear fired tear gas and the navy marine corps deployed troops to help secure the protests.
Muktita Suhartono reports on Thailand and Indonesia. She is based in Bangkok.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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