Authorities in Indonesia have launched a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests, sparked by outrage over generous housing allowances and other perks for politicians amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis. The protests were further inflamed after video showed a police vehicle running over a motorcycle taxi gig worker, who later died from his injuries. Security forces have detained more than 3,000 people since late August. “The underlying issue is economic inequality,” Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, says of the protests. The taxi driver’s killing in particular “symbolized the difficulties that many Indonesians had faced” as many people have been forced to take on gig work for extra income.