Google – AFP, Presi
Mandari (AFP), 21 March 2013
BEKASI, Indonesia — An Indonesian city government demolished a church in front of its weeping congregation Thursday, as Muslim protesters egged on workers and branded the Christians "infidels".
Indonesian
civilian policemen demolish the Taman Sari Batak Christian
Protestant Church in
Bekasi, on March 21, 2013 (AFP, Adek Berry)
|
BEKASI, Indonesia — An Indonesian city government demolished a church in front of its weeping congregation Thursday, as Muslim protesters egged on workers and branded the Christians "infidels".
Dozens in
the 100-strong congregation wailed as a digger tore down the brick walls, with
worshippers accusing the government of "criminalising our religion",
in a sign of increasing intolerance in the world's largest Muslim-majority
nation.
"My
heart is aching and I feel numb watching my church collapse. I went to this
church for 11 years," Megarenta Sihite, 46, told AFP, wiping away tears as
fellow worshippers, dressed in black, hugged each other.
The
congregation cries as the Taman Sari
Batak Christian Protestant Church is
demoslihed on March 21, 2013 (AFP,
Adek Berry)
|
As the
walls of the Taman Sari Batak Christian Protestant Church -- at the centre of a
planning row -- crumbled, police in Bekasi city on the outskirts of Jakarta,
dispersed 200 Muslim women who sneaked onto the church land chanting Koranic
verses.
Along the
road Muslim protesters held back by a police cordon had chanted "Knock the
church down now", and "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater).
One man
shouted through a loudspeaker: "They're infidels and they've built their
church without permission."
Members of
the congregation had earlier begged the Bekasi city government to halt the
demolition, with children clutching signs reading "please do not dismantle
our church".
Reverend
Advent Nababan shed tears as the building was pulled down. "You just
witnessed the government criminalising our religion," he said.
The local
government had ordered the demolition of the church for being built, in October
2012, without a legal permit.
An
Indonesian Muslim man, seen during a
protest against a local Christian church,
in Bekasi, on March 21, 2013 (AFP, Adek
Berry)
|
Nababan
said the church had obtained broad support from the Muslim community before building
started. Several neighbours confirmed with AFP they had no problem with a
church in the vicinity.
Ninety
percent of Indonesia's 240 million people identify themselves as Muslim and the
country's constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
The Setara
Institute of Peace and Democracy, however, says cases of intolerance are on the
rise, with 543 incidents reported in 2011, up from 491 cases in 2009. More than
300 incidents were recorded in the first half of 2012.
Christians
are among the main targets, along with worshippers who follow the Ahmadiyah and
Shiite Islamic minority sects.
Setara
deputy director Bonar Tigor Naipospos said the permit issue was being used as
an "excuse".
"The
problem is the government has shown no political will to stop cases of
intolerance in the country. It does not demand the law be upheld and that
perpetrators are brought to account," he said.
The Batak
Protestant Church has been at the forefront of attacks in the greater district
of Bekasi. One congregation was pelted with rotten eggs and urine by Muslim
hardliners who denied them entrance to their land, forcing them onto the
street.
Naipospos
said more of the 39 Batak Christian Protestant houses of worship in Bekasi were
likely to face trouble as only 10 had been granted building permits.
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