Christians blast police over Easter shooting<\/p>\n
Irvan NR, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi<\/p>\n
Christians here lashed out at security forces for failing to
\nprotect them from Saturday's Easter shooting by unidentified
\ngunmen in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, despite recent police
\nreinforcements.<\/p>\n
The protest was swiftly staged by residents in the
\npredominately Christian town of Tentena around one hour after the
\nattack on Tabernacle Church in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir
\nsubdistrict, which injured seven people including a four-year old
\ngirl.<\/p>\n
The protesters gathered en masse in Tentena and checked every
\nvehicle passing through the town.<\/p>\n
Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Darma Sitepu confirmed
\non Sunday that the Tentena residents had tried to avenge the
\nvictims of the shooting.<\/p>\n
But they refrained from resorting to violence as police
\nimmediately arrived to calm them down, he added. \"There were only
\ngathering in groups.\"<\/p>\n
Despite the attack, thousands of Christians in Poso flocked to
\nchurches in the lakeside town for Easter Sunday mass amid tight
\nsecurity from hundreds of police.<\/p>\n
Abdi admitted that he was worried if Tentena residents
\nretaliated as it would have pleased the gunmen because their
\ntarget would have been achieved.<\/p>\n
Previous attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen have mostly
\ntargeted Christians in Poso after a 2001 peace accord to end two
\nyears of religious fighting, which killed some 2,000 people.
\nHowever, Christians have so far not retaliated.<\/p>\n
The fresh attacks were launched despite reinforcements of
\nsecurity personnel in the religiously divided town.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, police deployed around 300 more officers to
\nPoso after a clergyman was shot dead and a woman lecturer was
\ninjured by gunmen on March 31.<\/p>\n
The police arrested five men, including one of Arab descent,
\nafter the previous attacks.<\/p>\n
Abdi said he sent two platoons of police officers to comb Poso
\nin search of the perpetrators of the Easter shooting at around
\n7:15 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n
However, none of suspects have been captured.<\/p>\n
Abdi believed the attackers were still in Poso, but could not
\nidentify them or their whereabouts. He said that the gunmen
\nlikely belonged to the same group that launched the earlier
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
In Saturday's attack, two gunmen dressed in black Ninja-like
\nuniforms rode up to the Tabernacle Church on a motorbike and
\nfired shots indiscriminately at churchgoers who were singing a
\nhymn. The people immediately fell to the ground and lay face down
\ncovered only by the pews.<\/p>\n
Abdi said daily activities continued as usual on Sunday as
\nlocal residents were not affected by the latest shooting,
\nalthough they remained alert in case of further shootings.<\/p>\n
Traffic on the Trans-Sulawesi highway was normal. A traveler,
\nnamed Om Ontet who made a trip from neighboring Morowali regency
\nto the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu via Poso, said his car
\nwas examined by security forces while arriving at the scene.<\/p>\n
Poso has seen intermittent violence after the government-
\nbrokered peace deal in 2001. In the worst bloodshed last year,
\ngunmen in October killed 10 people in attacks on mainly Christian
\nvillages.<\/p>",
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