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police tribunal in Palembang, South Sumatra, has ordered detentions ranging from two to three weeks for 22 members of the police's Mobile Brigade who shot farmers with rubber bullets during a recent demonstration.

South Sumatra Police spokesman Snr. Comr. Abdul Gofur said Friday the ethics tribunal had ruled the officers had used excessive force in trying to disperse the protesters.

Eleven residents of Renggas village in Ogan Ilir regency were wounded when members of the Mobile Brigade and provincial police fired on them in an attempt to quell a riot on Dec. 4 last year.

The riot grew from a protest against state plantation company PTPN VII, which the farmers alleged had illegally expanded its lands. The protesters set ablaze the company's heavy machinery, trucks and office.

Gofur said the offending Mobile Brigade officers had been remanded at the Bukit Besar detention center.

"They were found to have violated regulations by firing rubber bullets at the farmers during the incident," Gofur told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"Their action was deemed a violation of human rights and dishonorable to the police force."

Mobile Brigade chief Waluyo was ordered to serve 21 days in detention, wile the rest were given 14 days.

Gofur dismissed calls for the offenders to stand trial in a civilian court, saying there were no indications of criminal violations and the offense was not liable to criminal charges.

He added the incident would serve as a lesson for the police.

"We're now looking at options for crowd control were we don't deploy the Mobile Brigade," he said.

The Palembang Legal Aid Foundation's Yophie Barata expressed disappointment at the relatively lenient punishment handed down by the tribunal, saying the officers should have been tried in court.

"The punishment is far too lenient," he said.

"The tribunal should have done more, such as demote the officers, of instance.

"The case should have gone to court because it smacked of criminal violations," he went on. "Plus, the police are technically civilians."

Renggas villager Sonedy Ardiansyah said justice had not been done, and called on the police to consider the psychological scars left by the shooting. "It's a travesty of justice," he said.

In a related incident, thousands Renggas and Lubuk Bandung villagers rallied at the Ogan Ilir regency council to demand the land agency not issue title deeds for the disputed area.

Environmental activist Anwar Sadat, accompanying the protesters, said PTPN VII only had deeds for 6,000 hectares, but had laid claim to 20,000 hectares.

Incidents of violence involving Mobile Brigade units countrywide are common.

One person was killed and three injured in Papua when officers opened fire on them last June.

In Riau, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) concluded officers had committed rights abuses in a clash with residents in Bengkalis regency in December 2008.