Indonesia to deploy more than 1,000 police during Easter

Authorities cite safety, security concerns.

Indonesia:  East Nusa Tenggara Police will deploy over 1,000 officers beginning Thursday to beef up security at churches and transport hubs ahead of Easter celebrations, police said.

“We will deploy 1,025 officers for the Easter celebration,” East Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Cmr. Agus Santosa told news portal Tempo.co on Wednesday.

“We will focus in Larantuka where the event Semana Santa [Holy Week] will be held.”

The police said they had been preparing additional security measures as a preventative measure to minimize the risk of any violence.

Last year Easter celebrations in Indonesia were marred by the discovery of a suspected bomb at a Christian school in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and the continued barring of two West Java congregations from their own churches.

Easter Mass at a church adjoining the Kalimantan International Christian School had to be postponed after officials discovered a suspicious package believed to be an explosive device.

Meanwhile, the GKI Yasmin congregation from Bogor and the HKBP Filadelfia congregation from Bekasi once again held Easter services outside the State Palace in Central Jakarta because authorities refused to allow them to worship in their own churches.

Source: The Jakarta Globe