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Muslim youth group to help protect churches during the Christmas season

Over 50,000 churches throughout Indonesia are to be guarded during the Christmas season, including those previously targeted by terrorists.

Muslim youth group to help protect churches during the Christmas seasonO

ver 50,000 churches in all of Indonesia are to be guarded during the Christmas season, including those previously targeted by terrorists.

More than 90,000 police and soldiers are participating in the ongoing operation and a moderate Muslim youth community will join the security effort.

Speaker of the National Police Brig. Gen Dedi Prasetyo said that this year’s Christmas Security will concentrate on churches in 13 provinces including the main islands of Java and Sumatra as well as Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

The deployments will be for “anticipating” potential threats to security, Prasetyo added.

The Santa Maria Church in Surabaya, East Java, which was targeted by suicide bombers on May 13, is amongst the churches to be closely guarded.

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral Church in the capital, Jakarta, as well as churches in the provinces of Sumatra, Java and West Nusa Tenggara were also previously targeted.

Francis Xavier Ping Tedja, Santa Maria Church’s security coordinator, said about 70 police, military, and Banser members — Nahdlatul Ulama’s youth wing, Indonesia’s largest moderate Muslim organization — would protect the church for Christmas time.

“To ensure security, we have worked with police, military, and Islamic groups so that Catholics can easily and safely attend Christmas Masses,” he told ucanews.com on Dec. 17.

Catholics were told not to carry bags while they attend Christmas Services , in order to ease police work.
“We hope Catholics do not fear attending the church’s Christmas Masses,” he said.

Father Antonius Suyadi, president of the Ecumenical and Inter-religious Relations Commission of the Archdiocese of Jakarta, said about 300 police and military personnel would guard the Christmas festivities at the cathedral.

“In addition to the cathedral church, police and military forces in the archdiocese will also protect other Catholic churches,” Father Suyadi said.

In Yogyakarta Dec.11, the anti-terror unit — Densus 88 — detained two terrorist suspects who reportedly intended to strike during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Nevertheless, the police failed to elaborate their intended services or locations.

The two suspects were linked in July this year to a ‘cooking-pot’ bomb attack at a police building in Indramayu, West Java, according to Prasetyo.

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