Students protest haze in Indonesia’s Palangkaraya

Palangkaraya, Indonesia - Dozens of students protested on Friday against the Indonesian government's response to an ongoing wildfire crisis that has left their city and surrounding areas enveloped in hazardous haze for months. Wearing surgical masks due to the toxic air, the demonstrators gathered under an orange sky with limited visibility, holding banners demanding a national emergency declaration.

The protesters chanted the national anthem and engaged in brief altercations with police. Despite no injuries or arrests being reported, they dismantled their materials and left the protest area peacefully as nightfall approached. The protest leader, Yuyun Sanjaya, urged the Central Kalimantan provincial government to acknowledge their inability to control the disaster, thereby enabling the situation to be declared a national disaster.

According to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas, more than 1.9 million hectares have burned in the past nine months, though the government has yet to confirm or deny this figure. The resulting haze has caused illness among hundreds of thousands in Indonesia and extended as far as Malaysia, Singapore, and East Timor.

The situation has sparked frustration at home, with sporadic anti-government protests taking place. On Thursday, students on Java island prayed for rain as fires continued to ravage several regencies and conservation areas.