Indonesia: Farmers have blocked access to Semen Indonesia’s Rembang cement plant as part of on-going protests against the construction of the unit. Around 250 farmers protested at the site in support of a Supreme Court ruling in October 2016 and a local government order in favour of shutting down the plant, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper. The activists claim that activity has continued at the site.
However, Semen Indonesia denies that is has started operation at the plant saying that its workers are merely ‘taking care of its assets.’ The cement producer says it stopped construction soon after it received the governor's decision to revoke its permit. It added that it had spent US$337m on the plant and that it was 99% complete when the governor issues his decree. 3000 workers were also laid off at the same time.