Hundreds of women wearing pink and wielding broomsticks marched to parliament in Indonesia's capital on Wednesday to protest against police abuses and wasteful government spending.
Protests in Jakarta and other key cities have stretched into their second week, fuelled by anger over cost of living issues and lavish perks for MPs.
They turned violent after young motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan was killed when he was run over by a police vehicle.
As protests intensified, President Prabowo Subianto said he would cancel a trip to Beijing to attend China's massive military parade, but he was seen posing for a group photo on Wednesday, alongside Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Before his China trip, Prabowo said over the weekend that he would roll back perks for lawmakers - one of the core complaints of the protesters.
During Wednesday's rally, pink-clad female protesters from the Indonesian Women's Alliance (IWA) said the broomsticks symbolised their desire to 'sweep away the dirt of the state, militarism and police repression'.
The protesters also waved signs with the words 'reform the police'.
Protests are not crimes, but rather democratic rights inherent in every citizen, one of the protesters, Mutiara Ika, told BBC Indonesia.
The IWA is a political group comprised of 90 women's organisations and movements, as well as various civil society groups including labor unions, human rights organisations and indigenous communities.
The women's movement has a history of standing up to regimes in Indonesia, playing a crucial role in past waves of protest. Similar to the current demonstrations, women took a stand against Suharto's authoritarian rule leading up to the 1998 reform movement.
The IWA says their choice of the colour pink symbolises bravery.
The United Nations' human rights office has called for 'prompt, thorough, and transparent investigations' on allegations of human rights violations in Jakarta's handling of the protests.
'The state must immediately meet all the demands of the people during the demonstrations before further casualties occur,' said Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid.
In an attempt to quell the nationwide protests, President Prabowo announced on Sunday that several state-funded perks given to politicians would be reined in, including the size of some allowances.
But while the move was welcomed by protesters, some suggest it doesn't go far enough.
It is not only about one issue, but about long-standing concerns with inequality, governance and accountability, Herianto, a former central co-ordinator for the All-Indonesian Students' Union, told the BBC.
