Sejak Rabu (13/05/2026), polisi melalui media lokal mengklaim telah menangkap tiga belas orang yang dituduh terlibat aksi vandal dalam aksi Mayday 2026 di Bandung. Salah satu tersangka, Mpe, ditampilkan sebagai “ketua Anarkis Bandung Selatan” dan dituduh mengatur pembakaran, pengrusakan, hingga pendanaan aksi.
Aparat menjerat para anarkis dengan pasal-pasal terkait keamanan umum, antara lain Pasal 308 tentang membahayakan keamanan umum dan pasal 309 tentang pemufakatan jahat dan persiapan tindak pidana yang mengancam orang, barang, atau lingkungan, berdasarkan UU No. 1 Tahun 2023 tentang KUHP, dengan ancaman hukuman maksimal sembilan tahun penjara.
Selain itu, polisi menyebut bahwa para anarkis berada di bawah pengaruh obat-obatan saat melakukan aksi, sebagai salah satu dasar moral penahanan. Pengumuman ini menjadi petunjuk kepanikan aparat, mengingat kericuhan di May Day disebut melampaui prediksi dan gagal mereka antisipasi.
Polisi sekali lagi membuat pembingkaian narasi bahwa Mpe adalah dalang atau ketua aksi. Sejak penangkapan anarkis tahun lalu Polri juga melakukan pembingkaian narasi yang sama. Ada kabar bahwa Mpe juga dituntut oleh keluarga partisipan aksi lainnya yang tertangkap hanya karena mereka lebih muda. Jangan biarkan Mpe sendirian!
The Spectacle of Repression: Anarchists Targeted After May Day Bandung 2026
Since Wednesday, May 13, 2026, the police have paraded through local media their claim of having arrested thirteen individuals accused of involvement in acts of vandalism during the May Day 2026 protests in Bandung. One of the suspects, Mpe, has been prominently displayed as the “leader of the South Bandung Anarchists” and accused of orchestrating arson, destruction, and even financing the action.
The authorities have charged these anarchists with articles related to public security, including Article 308 on endangering public safety and Article 309 on criminal conspiracy and preparation of acts threatening persons, property, or the environment—clauses from the new Criminal Code (UU No. 1/2023)—carrying a maximum penalty of nine years in prison.
In addition, the police have asserted that the anarchists were under the influence of drugs during the action, a convenient moral pretext to justify their detention. This announcement reveals the apparatus’s underlying panic: the unrest on May Day exceeded their predictions and exposed their failure to anticipate and contain it.
Once again, the police are constructing the familiar narrative that pins Mpe as the mastermind and ringleader. This is the same framing they deployed during last year’s arrests of anarchists. There are also reports that Mpe is now being sued by the families of other arrested participants—many of whom are younger—shifting blame onto him alone.
Do not leave Mpe to stand alone.