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local NGO wants the police to reduce their presence in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, following the crackdown after a boy was killed in a standoff with law enforcers over a land dispute.

Police officers had been frequently meeting with local leaders “to influence them not to continue their demand for land and to oversee the activities of residents,” Anwar Sadat the director of the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said here on Wednesday.

The heavy police presence might spark additional outbreaks of violence, Anwar said.

Angga bin Dharmawan, 12, was killed and four others were injured on July 27, when officers from a National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) special operations unit intervened in a riot caused by a prolonged land dispute between the residents of 21 villages in Ogan Ilir and state-owned plantation company (PTPN) VII Cinta Manis.

Angga was reportedly shot dead in the mayhem, although the police maintain that no bullet was found during the autopsy of the boy.

Anwar said the government should resolve the land dispute through negotiation not through the deployment of police officers.

Meanwhile, Andri Meilansyah, the lawyer representing the Ogan Ilir residents in the dispute, said his clients had been afraid to meet or assemble following what he said was continuous police surveillance.

“The residents are disturbed whenever they gather. The security officers always intervene and question the objectives of their meeting,” Andri said.

However, South Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Dikdik Mulyana denied on Thursday that his subordinates had caused restlessness among the residents. “It’s our duty to safeguard state facilities,” Dikdik said in Palembang.

Dikdik said that the presence of the police officers was aimed at preventing any fresh outbreaks of violence between residents and PTPN VII Cinta Manis.

Separately, the secretary-general of the National Security Council (DKN), M. Daulay, met on Thursday with representatives of the South Sumatra provincial administration, the South Sumatra Military District Command and South Sumatra office of the National Land Agency.

The meeting was aimed at gathering input to be brought to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before so he could make a decision on the conflict, which arose more than a decade ago, according to South Sumatra administration representative Mukti Sulaiman.