Thousands mark Poso riots

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Thousands of Poso residents packed the Darussalam Mosque here on Wednesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the Poso riots.

Participants were mostly Poso residents who are sheltering in the provincial capital. They held prayers and chanted verses from the Koran during the gathering.

The event coordinator, Syaifullah Amir Jafar, said the commemoration was held to offer the traumatized refugees a morale booster, and he called on them to resume their normal lives in their hometown.

"We can't let ourselves be preoccupied with the prolonged misery and trauma in the refugee camps. You should return to Poso to rebuild from the ruins left the unrest," he told the gathering.

Separately, dozens of students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI) staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the gubernatorial office, demanding severe punishment for those involved in the riot, which left 200 people dead.

The district court here sentenced Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marianus Riwu to death last month following their conviction on manslaughter charges related to the riots which erupted on May 23 last year. (24)