Police ban mass gatherings in Yogyakarta

Police ban mass gatherings in Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Dadang
Sutrisno announced on Monday a ban on mass gatherings in the city
following attacks on churches by unruly crowds on their way home
from a mass prayer on Sunday.

Dadang said the restriction would be enforced for an
indefinite period.

"We will just wait until the situation is better. I can't tell
you when the ban will be lifted," he told reporters after
visiting Mobile Brigade officer First Sgt. Petrus Tri Waluyo who
suffered injuries to his head and back.

Waluyo was wounded while attempting to disperse mobs who were
attacking the Fransiscus Xaverius Catholic Church on Jl. A.M.
Sangaji. He is currently being treated at Bethesda Hospital.

At least seven churches, a convent and a university campus
were attacked by mobs who had just left the peaceful gathering at
Kridosono Stadium where they deplored the violence in Maluku.

A total of 12 people were arrested shortly after the incident,
but six of them were released on Monday due to lack of evidence,
Dadang said.

"The remaining six remain under detention for carrying sharp
weapons during the gathering," he said.

He said organizers of Sunday's mass gathering would also be
questioned, noting that the attacks were an excess of the mass
gathering.

The ban received support from legislator Noer Iskandar Al-
Barsany of the National Awakening Party (PKB). Speaking in
Purwokerto, he said an event involving thousands of people was
prone to provocation and would only lead to greater chaos and
riots.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X dismissed
speculation of the role of provocateurs in the incident.

"It was committed by Yogyakarta people, everybody knows that.
Therefore, I think the police should know better who they are,"
he said.

The sultan promised the provincial administration would help
repair the damage to the churches and renovate the Yogyakarta's
grand mosque, where police found a bomb last week.

The local security authorities had suggested the organizers
cancel the mass prayer, fearing it could lead to similar unrest
which previously rocked the West Nusa Tenggara capital of Mataram
recently.

Separately, secretary of Yogyakarta's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
chapter Nurudin Amin denied the event's organizers were
affiliated to the country's largest Muslim organization.
(44/45/edt)