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)