Bandung squatters reject eviction

BANDUNG: Around 500 residents living on land belonging to state railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) in Kebon Jeruk, Ciroyom, staged a rally against their eviction on Friday outside one of the firm's warehouses.

The Bandung mayoral administration plans to build a mall, apartments and a hotel on the PT KAI-owned land, on which almost 10,000 squatters live. The company will allow developer PT Citra Buana Prasida to use the land for 34 years.

But the squatters oppose the plan and have threatened to occupy the adjacent railroad tracks should their demand be ignored. --JP