Around 100 people had gathered in Surabaya to protest a fuel price increase and the president’s flagship free meals scheme
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 1:46pm, 27 Jun 2026Indonesian police have arrested dozens of protesters following a rally against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies in the country’s second-largest city, a rights group said on Saturday.Around 100 people gathered near a government building in Surabaya on Friday, journalists on the scene estimated, to protest a fuel price increase and Prabowo’s flagship free meals scheme.
Some demonstrators hurled rocks towards police and set fire to rubbish in the middle of the road, prompting officers to arrest them, the reporters said.
Fatkul Khoir, a coordinator at rights group KontraS Surabaya, said on Saturday that 24 protesters were arrested.
Police questioned them until 3.30am on Saturday but did not charge them, he said.
Surabaya police chief Luthfie Sulistiawan told reporters late on Friday that officers had taken “firm actions” to push back protesters after some threw projectiles.
He said there had been “dozens” of arrests but did not specify the number.
