Rumors of renewed attacks on nightspots grip Puncak
Rumors of renewed attacks on nightspots grip Puncak
BOGOR (JP): Tension prevailed in the mountain resort of
Cipanas in Puncak here on Tuesday amid widespread rumors of mobs
gathering to attack entertainment centers in the area following a
mass gathering which declared war on vice.
A joint security force from the local military, Cianjur Police
and Bogor Police rushed to the area and tightly guarded a number
of entertainment centers until the evening.
Barbed wire barricades were hastily erected at the front and
rear entrances of the Apel Gardena Villa housing complex.
Local residents from Gedog area in Cipanas armed themselves
with sharp weapons and declared they were prepared to fight back
against mobs.
Earlier in the day, about 100,000 Muslims from several parts
of West Java held a mass gathering in Cipanas at the initiative
of the People's Anti-immorality Movement (Geram).
Participants condemned prostitution, drug use and gambling in
the area.
Cipanas has long been a favorite weekend getaway for
Jakartans. Businesspeople have set up hotels and entertainment
centers, which locals claim have become sites of drug dealing,
prostitution and gambling.
Participants in the mass gathering became emotional when group
leader Habib Muhdor declared his wish for entertainment centers
to be shut down permanently, not only during the upcoming
Ramadhan fasting month.
Muhdor threatened to enforce "people's justice", meaning the
people would take the law into their own hands in dealing with
illicit activities in the nightspots.
"We will fight police officers who attempt to stop us," Muhdor
shouted to the crowds.
The group dispersed at about 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, sparking
fear among local residents and causing heavy congestion on the
town's main avenue as the crowd thronged the main street from
Cianjur to Bogor.
The situation became agitated as members of the crowd yelled
and tried to draw people out of their homes.
The situation was defused when other members of the group
calmed the followers.
Calls to put an end the alleged practices of prostitution,
gambling and drugs in entertainment centers in the Puncak area
have triggered frenzied assaults and arson at dozens of the sites
in recent months.
Dozens of angry rioters destroyed and burned 13 hotels and
entertainment centers in Cipayung and Cisarua subdistricts, Bogor
regency, earlier in November, following reports they were used as
brothels and centers for drug distribution.
A similar attack occurred in Bekasi, a town about 30
kilometers east of Jakarta, on Monday.
Bogor Police have not been able to identity the people who
burned and destroyed the hotels and entertainment centers in
Cipayung and Cisarua.
More than 2,000 workers were laid off after the vandalism.
(21/edt)