Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Police dispersed frustrated residents Friday who had been blocking main roads and railways in Sidoarjo, East Java, upsetting motorists and causing major traffic congestion.
Desperation was in the air as hundreds of protesting residents, whose homes in the Tanggulangin Sejahtera housing complex have been submerged by hot mud gushing from a Lapindo Brantas, Inc. gas exploration site, tried to make their plight heard.
Before dispersing the protesters, the police negotiated with them. Sidoarjo Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Utomo Heru Cahyono tried to persuade the residents to let 15 big vehicles trapped on the blocked turnpike pass, but his pleas were rejected. The police then helped the big vehicles get through the blockage slowly, and the residents gave up and returned to their shelters in Pasar Baru Porong market.
Heru said the effort to disperse protesters was undertaken simply to assist the drivers of the blocked vehicles. "They need to eat. They haven't gone home for two days. If they continued to stay here, what would happen?," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
The protests have forced 40 trains to be canceled or rerouted. Hundreds of truck drivers and other motorists have been sleeping in their vehicles and beside the road, without access to bathing facilities or food.
Driver Totok, 39, said he could only sit under the shadow of his truck, which had been blocked since the protest started on Thursday.
"I tried to convince the protesters to open the roadblock since all the truck drivers were tired and hungry. But they didn't want to open the blockade. I was upset but the police stopped me," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
One of the protesting residents, Pudjiono, said they were forced to block roads and other facilities because Lapindo had violated its promises to pay compensation.
"We've staged protests many times but have only been given promises. We are people and our patience has its limit. This time the residents are upset and frustrated," he said.
The housing complex residents are disappointed because they were denied compensation to help them relocate. They demanded to be given similar compensation to victims in four other villages swallowed by the mud.
Residents of the villages were given Rp 2.5 million (US$271) per square meter of house and land affected by the so-called mud volcano.
More than 15,000 people have had to flee their homes, and the mud has submerged villages, factories and fields since it began pouring from the gas exploration site late last May.
After meeting with representatives of the housing complex residents, East Java Governor Imam Utomo said he would work to get them cash compensation. "We will bring the case to the President in hopes of getting the best solution for residents," he said.
Lapindo, however, has insisted it will not pay cash compensation to residents of the complex, saying the area was not included in the compensation scheme it agreed to with the government.
Meanwhile, an effort to slow down the mudflow by partially plugging the crater with concrete balls on chains has been further delayed. "We have not secured the cables yet," Rudi Novrianto, the spokesman for the government team handling the crisis, told AFP.
The attempt involves dropping hundreds of concrete balls chained together in groups down the vent of the mud volcano from a cable held by two cranes. The balls are expected to slow the mud volcano's output by between 50 and 70 percent.