BEKASI, Indonesia: More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw
rotten eggs at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near land outside
Jakarta where they plan to build a church, police and a witness said.
Some 100 Christian worshippers
intended to hold a mass near empty land where they hope to build a church,
about 30 kilometres east of the capital, in a project barred by district
government and community members in 2009.
Since then, worshippers from the
Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant have held Sunday services under scorching
sun outside the property.
On Tuesday, however, local
community members blocked the road near the land, Andri Ananta, a local police
chief on Jakarta's outskirts, told AFP.
An AFP photographer witnessed
furious locals - men and women wearing Muslim headscarf, with small children in
tow - physically blocking the road and throwing rotten eggs at the gathering
worshippers.
Ananta said police managed to
convince the Christians to drop their plan and return home.
"We tried our best to avoid
any clash and the Christians agreed to leave," he said, adding 380 police
and military personnel including an anti-riot squad were deployed to the area.
Church leader Reverend Palti
Panjaitan said the incident came after a Christmas Eve attack Monday evening
when "intolerant people" threw not only rotten eggs but plastic bags
filled with urine and cow dung at them.
"Everything had happened
while police were there. They were just watching without doing anything to stop
them from harming us," he told AFP.
The country's high court last
year overruled the district government's 2009 decision, but constant
intimidation from Muslims in the area has delayed the church's construction,
church officials said.
Indonesia's constitution
guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against
minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated
since 2008.
Ninety percent of Indonesia's
population of 240 million identify themselves as Muslim but the vast majority
practise a moderate form of Islam.
- AFP/de
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