Sticking their feet in cement and thus unable to move for days, the women behind the rallies are called the Kartinis of Kendeng – named after Indonesia’s most famous female fighter for women’s rights, Raden Adjeng Kartini.

The women say that cement factories built in the Karst Mountains in central Java will ruin their land and pollute their water-supply and irrigation systems.

“I will fight to my last drop of blood because our ancestors fought for this land for hundreds of years, and that’s why we now can enjoy the water and the fruits from this land,” Sukinah, a protest leader, said.

“We won’t allow it to disappear like that.”

Women say cement factories built in Karst Mountains will ruin their land [Bagus Indahono/EPA]

Kendeng Mountain is a part of the Karst Mountains that contains not only springs and underground rivers but also chalk that is used in the production of cement.

While smaller companies have been mining here for years, now larger ones are coming.

But the legal battle is ongoing.

READ MORE: Indonesian tribes rally for land rights

One factory was due to start production last November, until the Supreme Court revoked its permit, saying the company’s environmental programme was unclear.

The state governor re-issued the permit after PT Semen Indonesia nearly halved the area it planned to mine. Tiếp tục đọc “Indonesians take ‘concrete stand’ against cement plant” →