Fresh clashes erupted on Monday between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's eastern city of Ambon and officials said the death toll from two days of violence had risen to 23. In the latest violence, a mob of men, many of them wielding knives, attacked dozens of women and children as they disembarked from a ship at Ambon's main port, residents said, but there were no reports of anyone killed in the attack. "Some children were hurt but so far we have received no reports of death," one government official told Reuters from Ambon city.
| "nthing to see here. Move along..." |
A nurse at the city's Bhakti Rahayu hospital said dozens of children and woman were hurt, including one elderly woman who suffered serious injuries. Police was not available for comment and it was not clear if the mob was made up of Christians or Muslims.
| Maybe it's something in the holy water? |
Earlier, a city official said the death toll in the violence that erupted on Sunday was 23. Officials put the number of wounded at about 140. It was unclear if any of the deaths were from the fresh clashes or from fighting the previous day. Police have sent 200 reinforcements to Ambon, 2,300 km east of Jakarta. More police and two army battalions are also expected to arrive in the next day. Evening drizzle put out fires from buildings and houses torched by rampaging mobs, once a scenic seaside town but which partly lies in ruins following years of sectarian violence. As night fell, residents reported sporadic gunfire across the capital of the Moluccas as police and army reinforcements arrived to quell the unrest. It was not clear who was firing. "I can still hear some explosions every now and then but it's getting less, maybe because it's already dark," another government official said. Earlier, mobs torched several buildings and part of a Christian university. Shops were closed and public transport was scarce.
Sunday's clashes began after police arrested people trying to raise the banned flag of a little known and mostly Christian rebel group, the South Moluccas Republic Movement (RMS), on the anniversary of a failed independence bid 54 years ago. That anniversary has sparked fighting in the past. Experts on the region said the clashes were not between the grassroots of both communities, who they said were sick of violence. Residents from Muslim and Christian communities, which had been starting to reintegrate, were now wary of passing through each other's neighbourhoods, they said. Interior Minister Hari Sabarno said the violence was not sparked by religion. "This is not a religious matter because it stemmed from the separatist commemoration and there was a group loyal to the Republic of Indonesia showing resistance to such a movement."
| "They just happened to have turbans and the other side didn't..." |
A U.N. office in Ambon was among several buildings set ablaze on Sunday by mobs wielding machetes, knives and homemade guns. None of the 27 Indonesians working for the United Nations in Ambon was hurt but cars were torched. U.N. official Caroline Tupamahu said she did not expect staff to be evacuated. Thamrin Amal Tomagola, an expert on the Moluccas at the University of Indonesia, said the United Nations was seen by some Muslims as partial to Christians. "(But) the real trigger was the complacency of the Moluccas police. They should have anticipated that every April 25, RMS supporters celebrate the group's anniversary," he said. The South Moluccas Republic Movement has a very small following, unlike Indonesia's separatist provinces of Aceh and Papua, where demands for independence are widespread. |