Thousands mark Poso riots

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)