Evictees want to rebuild homes

JAKARTA: People evicted from Lorong W Barat in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, remain determined to rebuild their houses, which were demolished on Wednesday.

"We are not homeless, we have the right to stay here. The government should pay us for the damage," Sudjono was quoted as saying by Antara on Friday.

On Wednesday, the evictees hurled stones to stop dozens of public order officers, the police and military troops from bulldozing 74 houses lining a railroad track.

The government plans to reuse the idle railroad, which was previously used to transport containers from Pasusu Port to Tanjung Priok Port.

At least 25 squatters, many of them housewives, were injured in violent clashes that erupted during the eviction. -- JP