Evictions delayed as residents fight

Tough defense: Residents of Mekarsari village in Neglasari, Tangerang, Banten, face water cannons while blockading access to their village from an eviction effort Tuesday. The local administration postponed the eviction of the area as it became heated. Dozens of residents were apprehended after the incident. Antara/Ismar Patrizki

The Tangerang municipality administration delayed Tuesday the eviction of residential houses of a lower-income Chinese community living in three villages along the Cisadane riverbank, pending further agreement regarding compensation.

The delay began after a long-hour standoff between the public order officers and the residents in the morning.

However hundreds of officers bulldozed illegal factories, office buildings and resident-owned pigpens along the riverbank in the afternoon.

The standoff between about 1,000 residents of Tangga Asem, Kokun, and Sewan Lebak villages of Neglasari district, known as Cina Benteng, and the city administration has been ongoing since Monday.

The evictions of illegal buildings in the villages are related to the municipality’s project on the expansion of Cisadane River under a 2000 bylaw on sanitation, security and public order. (tsy)