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)