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ceh’s Christians are reportedly living in fear following the closure of nine churches in Banda Aceh over the past week.

Nico Tarigan, a priest at the Indonesia Bethel Church (GBI) Penauyong, Banda Aceh, said he was afraid to hold mass because his side had signed an agreement with the Banda Aceh administration not to hold any religious activities because they had no permit to build a church.

“We have to close down our church because the administration said that it violated city regulations. If we remained open, the officials said they could not guarantee our safety. Since we didn’t want to get hurt, we halfheartedly signed the agreement,” Nico said as quoted by kompas.com.

“Besides, I have received threats through texted messages from people who said they would attack us if we continued to hold regular mass,” he added.

Nico said that his church was attacked on June 17. “Hundreds of people came here at around 10:30 a.m. We didn’t want this to ever happen again. That’s why we decided to sign the agreement,” he explained.

Nico said that he used the building for worship and prayer meetings.

“Even though we pray in a building, not in a church, we should be protected under the Constitution.

The Banda Aceh administration has closed nine churches and five Buddhist temples across the city, with priests being reportedly forced to sign agreements stating they would close their churches following mounting pressure from local Islamists.

The congregations of the nine churches were advised to attend churches that had building permits, such as the Catholic Church, Western Indonesia Protestant Churches (GPIB) or Filadelfia Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP).

Veryanto Sitohang of the Alliance of a United North Sumatra said that such an agreement between the administration and church managements had certainly limited the rights of Indonesian people to worship according to their faith.

“Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution clearly guarantees the freedom of Indonesians to worship,” said Veryanto.

The closure of churches in Aceh has been going on for some time, which has raised concerns over growing intolerance that could lead to community conflicts.

Previously in April this year, acting Aceh Singkil Regent Razali AR ordered the closure of 20 churches in a letter signed April 30, which ordered members of the congregations to tear down the churches themselves by June 8 at the latest.