Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Dozens of delman (traditional buggies) staged a protest in front of the City Hall on Wednesday, demanding officials remove the ban that forbids them to operate inside the National Monument (Monas) Park.

"I stopped operating my buggy and have just stayed at home for two years since the ban was enacted. We want to be allowed to work inside the park again," Matsani, 25, a delman driver, told The Jakarta Post. The delman drivers staged similar protests last year.

He said the officials' promise to relocate them to Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta or Ancol in North Jakarta was merely a lie as it had never been realized. However, Central Jakarta mayor Sylviana Murni said she never promised to relocate them.

"I only gave them a suggestion. It is not within my authority to move them there. They have to approach the managements themselves," she told reporters by phone. She said her office could not lift the ban to operate inside Monas Park.

The municipality issued the ban on delman drivers in June 2007, saying that the horses' urine produced a strong smell of ammonia and polluted the air, while their manure spilled onto the park's grounds.

Iswandi, secretary-general of the Betawi Delman Struggle Association, said there were around 250 buggies around the city, 90 of which were operating around the perimeter of Monas Park.