Azis Edward – Anticipating a forced eviction, hundreds of residents blocked a road in Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta, on Thursday morning armed with molotov bombs and sharpened sticks to defend their homes.

The road blockade lasted for three hours and brought traffic in the area to a standstill. Hundreds of vehicles were backed up from the obstruction.

Cheryl, a university student, said she had been stuck for three hours and was forced to miss her class. A housewife named Ani, who was driving her son to school, decided to abandon her car and walk to escape the traffic.

The angry locals had threatened to set fire to vehicles, but started to calm down and ended the road block after North Jakarta Police Chief Senior Commissioner Rudi S warned them to either move or face charges. Police decided to delay the eviction.

The eviction was the result of a legal tug of war between the residents and a man named Makbul, who has claimed he had a legal certificate showing that the two hectares of land where the residents have built their homes belongs to him.

The residents have denied the claim and said that they are the rightful owners of the land because they have lived there for 15 years. However, they do not have any legal papers to confirm their claim.

The conflict began in 2008, and Thursday was the second time that an eviction of the neighborhood was delayed. The eviction was first scheduled to take place in August but it was delayed due to the Islamic fasting month.