The Jakarta Post, 12/13/2004 5:26:40 PM
Palu police chief replaced after church attacks
JAKARTA (AFP): An Indonesian city police chief was replaced for alleged negligence
on Monday after two churches were attacked in renewed sectarian violence in the
country's Central Sulawesi province, police said.
Palu Police Chief Noman Siswandi failed to provide adequate protection for the
churches in Palu, where a bomb blast and a shooting incident seriously injured three
people on Sunday, provincial police chief Aryanto Sutadi said.
"He will be replaced later today. He should have been providing better police
protection for the churches," Sutadi told AFP.
A bomb exploded at the Emanuel church in downtown Palu city, the capital of the
province, early Sunday evening as a gunman fired shots at the Anugerah church in the
city's south at about the same time.
Sutadi said he had already issued a directive for the police in his province to step up
security measures ahead of the Christmas and New Year period but Palu's police
chief had failed to take necessary action.
Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Muslims and Christians
since more than 1,000 people were killed in clashes four years ago. The government
has sponsored peace talks but tensions remain high.
Security at churches has been a priority across Indonesia over the Christian festive
period following a series of bomb attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 that left 19 people
dead across the country.
Sutadi said he had asked for churches to be guarded by at least four policemen, two
of them plainclothes.
"If police personnel had really been deployed to protect centers of activities, including
places of worship, this would not have happened," he said. (**)
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