This is where the primary school students were supposed to be this morning instead of protesting.
They probably weren’t entirely aware why they were doing it, but up to 20 primary school students were at a protest outside City Hall this morning, demanding that the Jakarta provincial government not evict them from their homes.
The kids, all dressed up in their red and white primary school uniform, didn’t come willingly on their own. They were brought by their parents to protest that their illegal settlement on the banks of the Ciliwung River is being flattened.
“They said my house is going to be demolished, so I was told to come along [to the protest],” said one child, as quoted by Kompas today.
The protest began at around 8 am. The protesters refuse to be evicted from their illegally built homes, and they also refuse to live in affordable low-cost housing offered by the government.
At 9:30 am, Vice Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat met with representatives of the protesters.
Protesting for one’s rights is all well and good, but parents should know better than to use their innocent children as props in their fight. Especially when it’s a legally dubious fight to stay on land they don’t have any right to live on.
