A rise in petrol prices in Indonesia has driven up demand for state-subsidised fuel, but a video claiming to show a gas station razed by people angered by a policy supposedly barring owners of vehicles with unpaid taxes from buying it is false. The clip is actually from 2024, and the fire was started by an electrical short circuit. The policy also only applies to a single province in Indonesia, not the entire country.
"Vehicles with unpaid taxes are prohibited from refueling; angry residents burn down a gas station," read Indonesian-language text overlaid on a TikTok post published on July 7, 2026.
The 54-second video, which has been viewed more than 40,000 times, shows a gas station operated by Pertamina -- Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company -- on fire as a worker tries to extinguish the flames.
The video circulated after the price of Indonesia's non-subsidised Pertamax RON92 petrol -- one of the country's lowest-priced fuel -- rose by 32 percent to Rp16,250 ($0.90) per litre (archived link).
Long queues have since formed at petrol stations operated by state-owned companies across Indonesia, as consumer demand shifted to subsidised fuel (archived link).
But the circulating video shows a petrol station fire caused by a short circuit and is unrelated to any new policy regarding fuel subsidies.
A reverse image search on Google led to a report by Indonesian local news outlet Tatarmedia about a fire at a gas station in Subulussalam, Aceh, in northern...
A rise in petrol prices in Indonesia has driven up demand for state-subsidised fuel, but a video claiming to show a gas station razed by people angered by a policy supposedly barring owners of veh...