Students in Indonesia protest move to weaken corruption watchdog

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Thousands of students resumed protests on Monday against a new law they say has crippled the country’s anti-corruption agency, with some clashing with police.

Authorities blocked streets leading to the Parliament building in Jakarta, where 560 members of the House of Representatives whose terms ended Monday held their last session.

Clashes between rock-throwing students and riot police broke out in the evening when police tried to disperse the protesters, ranging from high school to university students, who attempted to reach Parliament after calm had largely returned to the country’s capital over the past four days.

Protesters set tires ablaze and pelted police with rocks and gasoline bombs near blocked streets. Riot police responded by firing tear gas and water cannons.

Similar clashes also occurred in other Indonesian cities, including in West Java’s Bandung city and in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, where a student was badly injured on Friday after being accidentally hit by anti-riot armor.

The demonstrators are enraged that Parliament passed the law reducing the authority of the corruption commission, a key body fighting endemic graft in the country.

Activists say the revision weakens the powers of one of the most credible public institutions in a country where the police and Parliament are perceived as being widely corrupt.

The protests have grown since last week and turned violent in some cities, with the burning of police posts and public facilities such as a toll gate and bus stops.

At least three people, including two students in Kendari city on Sulawesi island, have died and several hundred were injured.

The death of the students sparked a national outcry, prompting President Joko Widodo to express his...