In recognition of National Awakening Day today, hundreds, if not thousands of university students gathered outside the State Palace for a general protest against the government and President Jokowi.
What started off as a peaceful protest escalated into a heated one, especially after a group of students threw a bunch of live frogs at the direction of a police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit charged with securing the State Palace.
Surprisingly, the Brimob officers did not get riled up by the amphibian assault and didn’t retaliate. The frogs, thankfully, seemed unhurt from being hurled over quite some distance.
An orator from the student protesters said the frog was the perfect animal to symbolize President Jokowi.
“Jokowi is a frog. He likes to hop around. So here are some frogs for you,” he said, as quoted by Warta Kota today.
Meanwhile, some students protesting outside the State Palace on the Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara side also began setting fire to car tires.
The police reacted by setting up barricades and deploying two water cannon tanks on standby.
