Old video misrepresented as 'mob attack on Indonesian House speaker's home'

"Puan Maharani's house in Menteng, Central Jakarta, was surrounded by a mob," reads an Indonesian-language Instagram post on August 31, 2025.

"Sunday, August 31, 2025 -- the residence of the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, in the Menteng area of Central Jakarta, was the target of a mob attack early Sunday morning at around 4:00 a.m."

The video shows people climbing over a wall, with some of them appearing to carry a torch.

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Screenshot of the false Instagram post taken on September 1, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The false claim also spread on TikTok and Facebook. 

It surfaced after the house of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in South Tangerang, a city neighbouring the capital Jakarta, was ransacked (archived link).

Several other lawmakers' homes were also looted.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy has been rocked by protests in major cities sparked by lavish perks for lawmakers that have widened to include anger against police.

Demonstrations began peacefully, but turned violent against the nation's elite paramilitary police unit after footage showed one of its teams running over 21-year-old delivery driver Affan Kurniawan (archived link). Police also said they had arrested 1,240 people in protests in Jakarta since August 25 (archived link). 

While people gathered around Puan Maharani's residence on August 31 and asked her to meet them according to local media Jawa Pos, the clip was filmed years ago (archived link).

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found Indonesian outlet Tribunwow published a clip showing a similar scene on October 8, 2020 with a title saying it shows people setting the provincial and city representatives' council (DPRD) building on fire (archived link).

"Video of Mass Demonstration Against Job Creation Law Turns Chaotic" it reads in part.

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and the YouTube video from 2020

Tens of thousands of people took part in rallies in cities across Indonesia at the time against a bill that sought foreign investment by cutting labour and environmental regulations that critics said would harm workers' rights (archived link). 

The 2020 protests were also reported by other outlets, including Viva.com, Kompas TV and Tempo (archived here, here and here).

Images of the DPRD building on Google Maps Street View also match the building in the false clip (archived link).

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Screenshot comparisons of the falsely shared video (L) and Malang DPRD building as seen on Google Maps Street View, with corresponding features highlighted by AFP

AFP has also debunked another misinformation about the recent demonstration here.