Jakarta. The UN human rights office OHCHR recently urged dialogue to diffuse the deadly protests taking place across Indonesia's major cities.

Students, ride-hailing drivers, and civilians have been taking it to the streets over the past week. The protests centered on economic injustice -- worsened by lavish parliamentary allowances -- and police brutality. At least 10 people, including online motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan, died amidst the riots. Affan was delivering food in the middle of a protest in Jakarta on Thursday night when he got run over by a police tactical vehicle.

According to OHCHR’s spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, the human rights office is closely following the “spate of violence” in the nationwide protests.

“We stress the importance of dialogue to address the public’s concerns,” Shamdasani said.

“The authorities must uphold the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression while maintaining order, in line with international norms and standards, in relation to the policing of public assemblies,” she said.

OHCHR urged the Indonesian security forces to comply with the basic principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials. The body called for a “prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation” into all alleged international human rights law violations. The human rights office also demanded that Jakarta should let the press to freely and independently cover the events.

The situation in Indonesia has caught international attention, with foreign embassies urging their citizens to exercise caution. China, too, hopes that Indonesia can protect its nationals, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Guo Jiakun. He also said that Beijing was confident that President Prabowo Subianto could turn things back to normal.

"We believe that under President Prabowo’s leadership, the Indonesian government can properly handle the domestic situation and restore stability at an early date,” Jiakun told a news conference Monday local time.

Prabowo recently paid a visit to the injured cops and civilians at the police hospital in East Jakarta. He has also instructed “extraordinary promotion” for any policemen wounded during the protests.

"Genuine, good demonstrators must be protected by the authorities. The law guarantees the people’s right to express themselves. However, there are conditions: the demonstrations must have a permit and must end at 6 p.m.,” Prabowo told reporters after the hospital visit.

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