Jakarta – Residents in Kaloran village, Temanggung regency, East Java, Wednesday put up a roadblock to their village following a plan to bury the remains of 21 ex-communists there.

A barricade of logs and iron chairs was built on the road in front of Kaloran district office leading to the village. The stone road leading to the house of Irawan, 80, a former chairman of the Kaloran branch of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was also closed. A huge banner was erected near his house. On it is written the people's rejection of the burial, Antara reported.

Head of Kaloran district, Supangkat, said the villagers built the roadblock following rumors that a crowd was coming to the village for the burial. "They were worried there would be anarchy related to the burial," Supangkat said.

The burial was actually planned on Sunday by the Temanggung branch of the Foundation for the Investigation of the 1965/1966 Murder Victims.

The foundation exhumed the remains of 21 PKI members from a cemetery in Wonosobo regency in January.

The villagers, who are also members of the Kaloran Islamic Brotherhood Forum led by Muh. Khozin, rejected the burial and angry villagers ransacked his house on Sunday.

On Wednesday several members of the forum met with chairman of the Temanggung regional legislature, Bambang Sukarno, demanding the disbandment of the foundation for fear of a revival of the PKI.

They agreed to raise the roadblock when they were assured there would not be any mobilization of the mass against Kaloran villagers. Irawan himself is now under police protection at the Central Java Police headquarters in Semarang.