Lapindo mudflow victims stage rally at Presidential Palace

Thousands of Lapindo Brantas mudflow victims from Sidoarjo, East Java, are staging a massive rally in front of Merdeka Palace Tuesday to demand compensation for their homes and fields buried in the mud.

Hundreds of buses carrying the Sidoarjo residents began arriving in Jakarta early Tuesday morning with hundreds of others to follow.

Mardi, one of the newly arrived demonstrators, said they were demanding PT Lapindo Brantas and the government fulfill their pledge to compensate victims in full for their damaged and lost property.

"We are going to stay in Jakarta until our demand is met," Mardi said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The Sidoarjo mudflow in Porong subdistrict, which occurred at a Lapindo exploratory drilling site, began as an eruption of gas and mud in May 2006. Mud continues to flow to this day.

The outflow has buried thousands of houses, rice fields and factories but Lapindo has yet to pay out the compensation required by law.