Church to file complaint over assault

Jakarta: The Congregation of Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP) Filadelfia from Bekasi, West Java, plans to file a report with the National Police on Saturday over the assault on its members when performing a service on Thursday.

“We have received threats from hard-line groups that prevented us from conducting religious activities in our church,” said the congregation’s lawyer, Judianto Simanjuntak, on Friday.

Judianto said that reporting the threats to the National Police should be done as soon as possible because perpetrators also threatened to kill the congregation’s leader, Rev. Palti Panjaitan.

On Thursday, a group of radical Muslims in Bekasi dispersed the church’s service commemorating the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The crowd also hurled urine, sewage and frogs at the congregation.