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Unrest and arrests in Sumatra as community fights to protect mangroves

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LANGKAT, Indonesia — Ilham was sitting outside on his terrace in the village of Kuala Langkat on April 18 when a scrum of men in plainclothes arrived at his home and strong-armed him into a waiting car. Ilham’s younger brother said the men didn’t show any credentials, and that there was a scuffle as Ilham resisted. “My brother was taken without any explanation by people who claimed to be police,” Nuzul told Mongabay Indonesia. “When asked where the arrest warrant was, they ignored it.” Nuzul said the mangrove forest in Kuala Langkat village was part of a protected area that had remained in good condition until about 10 years ago. That was when a man identified only by the initials BP arrived in the area and claimed a concession covering 100 hectares (247 acres), which he began clearing to plant oil palms. Over time, BP sold off parcels of the concession, around 3-5 hectares (7-12 acres) apiece; to date, he’s sold around 65 hectares (161 acres) to buyers. A large share of the community objected to this destruction of the mangrove forest, and Ilham reported the deforestation to the provincial police headquarters in North Sumatra. He would later travel back several times to follow up on the case with police. Frustrated by the lack of response, Ilham is alleged to have taken matters into his own hands by damaging a shelter in the protected forest used by workers hired to cut down the mangrove trees and replace them with oil…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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