Police detain provocateurs

Police detain provocateurs

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The East Nusa Tenggara Provincial
Police have arrested a number of people allegedly involved in
rioting that gripped here on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 last year, Antara
reported on Monday.

Police spokesman Major Sismantoro confirmed the arrests had
been made but refused to reveal the identities of the people in
detention.

Provincial police chief Col. Engkesman Rangkeong previously
said that eight people suspected of inciting the crowd to riot
had been detained. A number of mosques and Muslim buildings were
seriously damaged in the incident.

Sismantoro said the eight people in custody were civil
servants and high-ranking government officials in the city.

He said they would be put on trial as soon as dossiers on
their cases had been completed.

Observers believe the rioting was in retaliation for unrest in
Ketapang, West Jakarta, several days earlier in which a number of
churches were damaged and more than a dozen people died. (29)