MAKASSAR, Indonesia: At least three people were killed by a fire started by protesters at a council building in eastern Indonesia's Makassar city, a local official told AFP on Saturday (Aug 30), after demonstrations across the country following the death of a motorcycle taxi driver hit by a police vehicle.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy was rocked by protests across major cities, including the capital Jakarta, on Friday, after footage spread of a gig motorcycle driver being run over by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies against low wages and perceived lavish perks for lawmakers.

The protests are the biggest and most violent of Prabowo Subianto's presidency, a key test for the ex-general less than a year into his rule.

Protests in Makassar, the biggest city on the eastern island of Sulawesi, descended into chaos outside the provincial and local city council buildings, which were both set on fire. Vehicles were torched as protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar city council building, its secretary Rahmat Mappatoba told AFP.

"They were trapped in the burning building," he said, accusing protesters of igniting the blaze.

"This is beyond our prediction, usually during a demonstration, protesters only threw rocks or burn a tyre in front of the office. They never stormed into the building or burned it."

Two workers at the city council died at the scene and a third person, a civil servant, died in hospital.

At least four people were injured in the fire and were being treated at hospital, Rahmat added.

The fire has since been extinguished.

Hundreds of people were seen in footage posted by local media cheering and clapping as fire engulfed the building on Friday with few security forces in sight.

One man was heard shouting:"There are people upstairs!"

In footage verified by AFP, smouldering debris was seen falling from the roof of the city council building surrounded by palm trees as flames still flickered in charred cars.

Protesters inside lit several fires as parts of the building collapsed, while others smashed glass and chanted"revolution".

The building was a blackened wreck by Saturday, with dozens of charred cars around it, as Makassar residents inspected the scene, media footage showed.

Windiyatno, South Sulawesi's military chief said in a statement on Saturday that the situation in Makassar had"now returned to normal".

Makassar and South Sulawesi police did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for comments.

"POLICE CRIMES"

Protesters gathered again on Saturday in different areas of Indonesia's vast archipelago.

Hundreds of students and"ojek" motorcycle taxi drivers protested in front of the police headquarters in Bali, Indonesia's most popular tourist hotspot.

"Bali is the centre of tourism in Indonesia, and we want to protest here to gain international attention about the legal injustice, corruption, and the impunity of police crimes," protester Narendra Wicaksono told AFP.

Protesters on neighbouring Lombok island stormed a council building in the provincial capital Mataram and set it on fire, despite police attempts to stop them with tear gas.

Hundreds of students in Surabaya also rallied outside the East Java police headquarters, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

In Jakarta, hundreds had massed on Friday outside the headquarters of the elite Mobile Brigade Corp (Brimob) paramilitary police unit they blamed for motorcycle gig driver Affan Kurniawan's death the day before.

Protesters threw firecrackers as police responded with tear gas.

A group of protesters tried to tear down the gates of the unit, notorious for its heavy-handed tactics, and pulled a sign from the building's facade in chaotic scenes.

Police said they had detained seven officers for questioning in connection with Affan's death.

National police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is not related to the president, told a news conference on Saturday the officers would face an ethics trial that could take a week.

"If they are guilty, there's room for us to process the case as a crime," he said.

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President Prabowo has urged calm, and ordered an investigation into the driver's death and that the officers involved be held accountable.

He said on Friday the government was"committed to guaranteeing the livelihood" of the driver's family, posting images on social media with them at their home.

The president has pledged fast, state-driven growth but has already faced protests against widespread government budget cuts to fund his populist policies, including a billion-dollar free meal programme.

Protests also spread to other major cities on Friday in Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya in Java and Medan in North Sumatra province.

In Malang, a city in East Java, a CNA team came across the aftermath of protests at several local police posts - at least four were badly ransacked and burned.

At one post, windows were smashed and signs were destroyed - with soldiers seen on site on Saturday clearing up shattered glass, broken furniture and building debris.

Arifin, a security guard who had been manning a fast food restaurant near a police post, told CNA that he had seen"a crowd of people arriving at around 1am".

"Without warning, they started pelting stones," he said."They then knocked down awnings, broke through doors and set the police post on fire."

No one had been manning the post at the time, he added, which was located at the city's main square.

Supriyanto, a parking attendant at a commercial centre where another police post had been badly damaged, said he"could smell gasoline the crowd must have used to set the post on fire".

"The police post was already in this state (since) I started my shift at 6am," he said.

Several city workers were also seen erasing graffiti left by protesters at the police headquarters on Friday evening.