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Housewives clash with military, police in fight to save their homes

Harian Haluan - January 18, 2018

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Padang – Refusing to be evicted from their land, on Wednesday January 18 hundreds of local residents from Kapalo Koto in Limau Manis village, Pauh regency, Padang City, blockaded the main road in the direction of the Andalas University campus.

The residents, the majority of whom were housewives, also set fire to tyres and wood in the middle of the road to block the eviction.

According to observations by harianhaluan.com at the site of the protests, a clash broke out with the demolition team, who were backed up by hundreds of police and TNI (Indonesian military) officers. Residents also threw rocks and women blocked a police water cannon.

A housewife could even be seen waving a length of wood to hold back police who were about to clear her land and house. Police were forced to take her into custody because she was stopping officials from carrying out their duties.

Based on information gathered at the scene, there were around five people who were detained by police for creating a disturbance. A child was also taken into custody for carrying a sharp weapon.

The land execution began at 8am and as of filing this report, access to the road to the site was still being blocked.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski for the Indoleft news service. The original title of the report was Ibu-Ibu Ini Lawan Polisi Sambil Bawa Kayu.]

Source: https://harianhaluan.com/news/detail/63498/ibuibu-ini-lawan-polisi-sambil-bawa-kayu.

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