Jakarta – A protest by hundreds of farmers claiming rights to land developed by a state plantation company in West Java left thousands of tree crops and several buildings burned and 120 protestors arrested, a report said here Sunday

Some 1,500 farmers Saturday attacked the PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII in Agrabinta, Cianjur district, setting fire to thousands of coconut, rubber and chocolate trees as well as a copra processing plant and four houses, the Sinar Pagi daily said.

Police have arrested 120 people, including student supporters of the farmers, the daily said. Nine were arrested on suspicion of inciting the farmers to violence, the daily added.

The farmers claim they had been working on the land for decades before the state company appropriated the land for its plantations.

Land disputes between local farmers and state enterprises have increasingly broken out following the fall of former president Suharto who had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than three decades.

Suharto resigned as head of state in May 1998 amidst mounting public pressure and widespread violent mass unrest.