Old detention footage falsely linked to Indonesia budget cut protests

"The students who were paid to plan the burning of photos of Prabowo and Gibran were arrested. Surely your parents are proud," reads the Indonesian-language text overlay on a video shared on X on March 2, referring to the Southeast Asian nation's leader and his vice president.

The clip, viewed more than 850,000 times, shows officers escorting a group of handcuffed and shackled men.

"This is a democratic country ... but don't forget that this is also a country of law. There is a difference between criticism and insults and slander," says part of the post's caption. 

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Screenshot of the false post, captured on March 7, 2025

Similar posts also surfaced on TikTok after Prabowo's announcement of austerity measures sparked thousands of student protesters to rally across Indonesian cities (archived link).

Local media Detik reported some protesters burned photos of Prabowo and Gibran. Kompas news organisation separately said at least six people were arrested during a demonstration that turned chaotic but were later released (archived here and here).

However, a reverse image search combined with keyword searches on Google found the circulating clip matches parts of longer footage published on the official YouTube channel of broadcaster Tribun MedanTV on December 10, 2024 (archived link).

The report says the men are students from the Catholic University of Santo Thomas in Medan city arrested for fighting earlier that month.

"A total of 13 students, all male, were named as suspects and detained. When presented, the students were seen wearing yellow prison uniforms and handcuffed," says the video's caption.

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Screenshot comparison between the video in the false posts (L) and the one from Tribun MedanTV

Other Indonesian media outlets also published pictures of the same scene in December 2024 -- two months before the protests against Indonesia's budget cuts (archived here and here).

The students were released after they made peace with those who reported the case, Police Chief Commissioner Bambang Gunanti Hutabarat of the Medan's Sunggal district told AFP.