A

t least 24 people were injured, some severely, as a clash broke out between local residents and security guards hired by state plantation company PTPN II in Namorobe Julu in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, on Tuesday.

Seventeen of those injured were PTPN II security guards. Most suffered from slash wounds, while others were shot by air rifles or poisoned arrows.

The injured guards were taken to Dangkatan Hospital in Binjai, while the seven residents injured in the clash were taken to Bina Kasih Hospital in Medan.

Five trucks were also set on fire during the clash, which erupted at 10 a.m. local time when hundreds of guards on 19 trucks arrived in the village to take disputed land from the residents. Tono, a local resident, said the clash was unavoidable since they had refused to vacate.

The situation quickly turned chaotic as the two camps attacked each other.

“It was like a war,” Tono told The Jakarta Post.

PTPN II spokesman Rahmudin confirmed the incident, saying that the clash broke out when the company’s guards were about to evict the residents.

“The land on which the residents grow various crops belongs to PTPN II,” he said.

North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Heru Prakoso said that the security situation in the village returned to normal after officers from the provincial police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) special operations unit were deployed.

“Brimob personnel are still on scene, but the situation has already been placed under control,” Heru said.

One person was shot and killed in a previous land dispute involving PTPN II in Deli Serdang in January.

That clash was reportedly triggered by local residents looking to maintain their right to grow crops on the disputed lands.

In a separate incident, police shot and injured five residents and arrested five others in February after land disputes turned violent in Tambusai and Rokan Hulu in Riau.

The residents clashed with guards employed by PT Mazuma Agro Indonesia (MAI) and Brimob officers over a disputed plot near the border between Riau and North Sumatra.

Separately, the legal advisor for the Batang Kumu residents, Nasir Sihotang. said the clash was triggered by the presence of heavy machinery owned by PT MAI on the disputed land.