One cloudy day, a student protests known later as the 11th April demonstrations, saw students across Indonesia gathered to express their common disagreement.
It was all triggered by rumors regarding a delay of the 2024 Indonesia election and proposals of amending the constitution to allow President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to have a third term. The protests also drew attention to the increasing food prices, especially cooking oil, as well as fuel prices and more.
The protests were conducted mostly by students from universities from a number of cities in Indonesia, organized by the All-Indonesia Students Executive Alliance (BEM-SI).
The largest of the protests, happened in the capital Jakarta, involving thousands of people gathering in front of the House of Representatives complex.
Some of the protesters held up banners containing texts, criticizing how the government was fast in handling Dea OnlyFans' pornography case, but is so slow in dealing with everything else.
During the protest, Ade Armando was seen amongst the crowd.
Ade is known as a social media activist, and a supporter of President Jokowi.
He is public figure who often defends the President's policies, and rejects those who are against the government.
When he arrived in the middle of the crowd, he didn't say anything about his beliefs, and only said that he was supportive of the students’ demands.
The peaceful crowd even gathered around him, with some people, as well as the media, interviewing him
"I’m not joining the rally, but I came here to express my support," said Ade.
While he meant nothing more than that, his presence annoyed some of the protesters.
Several students started shouting Ade's name, insulting the 60-year-old activist.
"You’re a hypocrite! Your life doesn’t do any good!" some of the women were heard saying.
“What did I do wrong?" Ade replied.
In the high voice shouting from both Ade and the crowd subsequently made the situation more tense. Sooner than later, the peaceful protesters became one huge angry mob.
"Kill! Kill Ade Armando!" the crowd began to chant, calling Ade, the "government propagandist."
Then, out of nowhere, a man wearing a black cap and a black hoodie suddenly hit Ade at the back of his head. It was during this moment, that the mob became chaotic.
Ade's head became the target of so many fists that he fell to the ground.
Lying helplessly on the black asphalt, he used both his hands to protect his face from the many punches and kicks thrown at him, allowing his attackers to take off his pants, stripping him.
Dozens of riot police officers created a human barricade in order to rescue Ade before things go bad to worse.
The officers then tried to disperse the crowd, and managed to calm the mob after about half an hour.
Ade, who is also a lecturer that teaches communication at the University of Indonesia, was seen suffering multiple injuries to his head. Bruises were seen, and blood was pouring from his face. Ade was taken to Siloam Hospitals for medical treatment.
Ade suffered concussion, and six officers were injured in the process of rescuing him.
Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran vowed to take actions against the attackers, some of whom were caught on camera punching and kicking the activist.
"If you don’t turn yourself in, we will get you," Fadil said at the legislature building.
"Tomorrow we will take action and announce the identities of the suspect," the officer added.
Secretary of the BEM-SI, Nong Darol Mahmada, urged the police to arrest the perpetrators of the beating of Ade.
"I, we, request that the authorities arrest the perpetrators of the attack as soon as possible. Once again we ask that the perpetrators of the violence, assault, and beating of Bang Ade and his friends in the PIS movement be arrested as soon as possible and put on trial, punished with the severest form," said Nong Darol in a virtual press conference.
It was this time she explained that Ade came to the scene in front of the House of Representatives complex, in order to build relationship with the crowd, and also BEM-SI.
She also said that Ade deliberately visited the scene because he wanted to create a YouTube content for his CokroTV channel.
He arrived at the scene with four of his crew members, including two cameramen.
But Ade failed because he was injured in the process.
In a later report, Nong said that doctor’s tests revealed that Ade also suffered from intracranial hemorrhage.
"Ade Armando had vomited blood several times," she said.
Nong rejected Ade's arrival at the scene because he voiced the same demands as BEM-SI.
She emphasized that Ade didn't come to refuse the postponement of the general election or a three-term presidential election, as stated on various posts on social media networks
It's worth noting that Joko Widodo as the incumbent President, has denied his support of third period of terms of office on 15 March.
The President also denied rumors about potential election delay, and stated that the election shall be held on 14 February 2024
But here, the students that were involved in the 11th April demonstrations rejected Jokowi's denying.
On the web, hashtags like #TurunkanJokowi (#DeposeJokowi) and #GoodbyeJokowi were made by certain groups to benefit from the protests.
Days later, the Jakarta Police announced that they have arrested three men accused of attacking Ade Armando. It is reported that the authorities use facial recognition software to help them identify the suspects.
"They were identified by the facial recognition system against the database of the Dukcapil," explained Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Endra Zulpan.
The three suspects in custody were identified as Komarudin, Muhammad Bagja, and Dhia Ul Haq.
The police said that the three men didn't know each other, and claimed to have been provoked by the escalating situation as people shouted insults at the activist, the police said.
