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Police beef up Easter security after church cordoned off
Holy Saturday: Catholics are deep in prayers at an evening service at Jakarta Cathedral, Central Jakarta
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Holy Saturday: Catholics are deep in prayers at an evening service at Jakarta Cathedral, Central Jakarta. (JP/Nurhayati)
The Jakarta Police will deploy about 4,300 officers to guard 1,129 churches, especially those prone to threats of forced closure or attacks, in Greater Jakarta on Sunday when they hold Easter services.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Saturday that the officers would come from police forces at all levels in Greater Jakarta, with additional personnel coming from the Jakarta Public
Order Agency.
“Police officers have been maintaining security at all churches in their respective jurisdictions since Thursday until Sunday afternoon,” he told The Jakarta Post.
He said police and internal security guards at the Jakarta Cathedral and the Immanuel Church, both in Central Jakarta, had combed the areas in their vicinity for explosives.
He said this year’s Holy Week, which would peak on Sunday, was relatively safe and there had been no threats of churches being sealed off or attacked to discourage people from attending services.
Thomas Bambang of the Jakarta Cathedral said hundreds of security personnel, including those from the cathedral, would stand guard in three layers on Sunday. Other security officers come from the National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), the Jakarta Police, the Central Jakarta Police and traffic and special police forces.
“Around 4,000 people from all over Jakarta will come tomorrow. We will try our best to provide security for them,” he said.
A number of churches in Greater Jakarta have been facing threats of attacks and forced closure from mass organizations bearing the Islamic flag over what the latter say are permit issues.
In Tambora, West Jakarta, the Damai Kristus Catholic Church, which was sealed off last week by a Muslim community group, is ready to hold Easter Mass for about 2,000 congregators on Sunday, with the situation returning to normal and police guarding the area, said church spokesman Harsubeno Lesmana.
“The police have pledged to provide security to their utmost,” he said.
Members of the Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) in Bogor, the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Taman Sari in Bekasi and HKBP Filadelfia in Bekasi earlier said they would hold Easter services in front of the Presidential Palace, Central Jakarta, on Sunday and call for an end to their suffering.
They also intend to present an Easter egg as a symbol of religious freedom to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is in Bali for the Democratic Party’s national congress in an attempt save his sinking party.
Members of the GKI Yasmin congregation have conducted Sunday services in front of the palace every two weeks for the last three years in their relentless effort to reclaim their church since it was closed by the Bogor mayor in 2010. The Bogor administration has refused to open the church despite the Supreme Court ordering it to so.
The HKBP Filadelfia church is facing violent resistance from residents and so-called Islamic organizations despite having the required permit. The police have repeatedly failed to protect the congregation from harassment.
The HKBP Taman Sari church was demolished last week by the administration, falling victim to intolerance that observers say is the direct result of the absence of a strong government. (hrl)
