Hundreds of women dressed in pink joined protests in Indonesia¡¯s capital on Wednesday against lawmakers¡¯ perks and police brutality, waving brooms as a symbol of their calls for reform, while the president flew to China for a military parade.

The women carried signs with slogans such as ¡°reform the police¡± and ¡°your sweet promises cause diabetes,¡± as well as the brooms which protest organizer The Alliance of Indonesian Women said symbolized a need to ¡°sweep (away) the state¡¯s dirt ... and the repressiveness of security forces.¡±

Protests involving students, workers and rights groups that began in Jakarta last week have rocked the world¡¯s third-largest democracy, spreading nationwide after a police vehicle hit and killed a motorcycle taxi driver on Thursday night.