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)