Most of the evicted residents claim to have lived in the area since the 1980s.
akarta Governor Anies Baswedan has come under fire following the eviction of dozens of families in Sunter Agung, North Jakarta, last week, as he had previously denounced the practice that had been employed by his predecessor.
The North Jakarta administration evicted illegal structures on Jl. Agung Perkasa VIII in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Thursday, to restore the water channel in the area as part of flood mitigation efforts, as well as to construct an inspection road.
Most of the evicted residents claimed to have lived in the area since the 1980s and made ends meet by selling secondhand home appliances at the location.
The eviction, which was carried out with the assistance of 1,500 personnel from the police, the Public Order Agency and the Public Facility Maintenance Agency (PPSU), displaced dozens of families.
The administration claimed in a video on its official YouTube channel on Sunday that peaceful demolition activities would be conducted despite "provocation by some residents who illegally rent the land."
However, contrary to claims in the video, evictee Rizal Fahmi, 21, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the eviction turned into chaos and he was detained for resisting eviction and questioned at the police station for hours. As a result, evicted residents filed a report with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), claiming violence had been used during the eviction.
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