Police detain Filipino activists at Bali protest

Four Filipino human rights activists have been detained at a demonstration in front of the US consulate in Denpasar, Bali, on Saturday, according to the police.

“We need to find out why they were participating in the rally,” National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafly Amar said on Saturday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The demonstration was staged by the People’s Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy (ARDHAM) in cooperation with the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi).

ARDHAM spokesman Ahmad alleged that the police had overreacted from the beginning.

“The Filipino activists have done nothing but show solidarity. Why they should go to jail? As fellow ASEAN country residents, they don’t need a visa just to go to Bali,” he said.

The police plan to deport the activists on Sunday.