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Executions spark violence
22/09/2006 09:31 - (SA)
Palu - The execution of three Christian militants by a firing squad early on Friday for allegedly leading attacks on Muslims six years ago has sparked fresh violence in central and eastern Indonesia, officials said.
Mobs torched cars and police posts in restive Sulawesi province, said Major Rudy Sufahriyadi.
Elsewhere Christian protesters burned a prison, freeing scores of inmates, blockaded roads and looted Muslim-owned shops.
On the island of Flores, the executed men's birthplace, machete-wielding mobs ran through the streets, sending women and children running in panic.
"We understand that some people are disappointed and sad to hear their brothers were executed," Sufahriyadi said, as the number of injured climbed to four. "It's normal, but we will not tolerate any anarchist acts that may worsen the situation."
Sectarian violence
Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, were taken from their tightly guarded prison and executed at 01:45 on the southern outskirts of Palu, said I Wayan Pasek Suartha, a spokesperson for the attorney general.
They were killed simultaneously by three, 12-member firing squads, he said.
The Roman Catholic men were found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks in May 2000 - including a machete and gun assault on an Islamic school that left at least 70 men dead.
It was one of the most brutal attacks during sectarian violence that swept Sulawesi province from 1998 in 2002, killing more than 1 000 people from both faiths. A peace deal largely ended the bloodshed, though isolated attacks have continued.
Bracing for new clashes
Security forces braced for new religious clashes on Friday.
Palu, where the executions took place, was largely calm, with thousands of police standing on street corners and guarding markets and churches, watching as some 1 000 mourners filed into St. Maria's church early on Friday to take part in a requiem.
"My father begged us not to be angry, not to seek revenge," Tibo's son, Robert, told Christian followers after the morning prayers. "He asked us to forgive those who did this to him. God blesses all of us, he said."
But violence flared in the Sulawesi villages of Tentena and Lage, where hundreds of Christians went on a rampage after learning of the deaths.
Thousands also rallied in the eastern province of East Nusatenggara, home to many Roman Catholics, blockading roads and setting a court, prosecutor's office and other government buildings on fire.
Some 250 prisoners escaped in the town of Atambua, but nearly half had been recaptured by mid-afternoon, police said.
- AP
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