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leven residents in Renggas village, Payaraman district, Ogan Ilir regency, South Sumatra, were wounded when members of the local police Mobile Brigade Unit and provincial police fired on them in an apparent attempt to quell a riot on Friday.

Three employees from the PTPN Cinta Manis Unit VII state plantation company sustained knife wounds and are currently being treated at a hospital in Palembang.

The clash, involving company security guards, assisted by police personnel, and residents of Renggas village took place at the District 6 plantation site of PTPN VII Cinta Manis.

Local resident and Ogan Ilir regency councilor Sonedi Ariansyah, 32, said the incident took place at around 9 a.m. on Friday when company security guards, assisted by around 60 police personnel, arrived at the District 6 plantation site, which surrounds Renggas village, to dismantle wooden border markings and wooden huts erected by villagers.

"Villagers who watched the incident then immediately told others. *A crowd gathered at* the location and a quarrel ensued. The police then fired shots *to break them up*," Sonedi said.

"It is still unclear whether the police used rubber or live bullets," he added.

According to a victim in hospital, Wawan, 27, the clash had started because PTPN VII security guards refused to release a villager who they had detained earlier.

"*The guards* removed the border markings that we had installed recently. We only demand the fulfillment of our rights," said Wawan.

The situation in the village was still tense on Friday evening after the violence.

According to Sonedi, many Mobile Brigade personnel were still securing the site as enraged villagers tore down dozens of worker's barracks and set fire to a company tractor.

PTPN VII spokesman Sony Purwanto declined to comment as company management was still assessing the incident.

He said he promised to publicize the details soon. "Sorry, I cannot comment right now, just wait until tomorrow," he said.

The violence is reminiscent of an incident two months ago when around 1,500 Renggas villagers felled and burned sugar cane crops at the PTPN VII Cinta Manis' District 6 site in an effort to seize a 1,529-hectare plot, which they believed was theirs.