Protesters storm jail housing Bali bombing convicts
DENPASAR (Indonesia), Oct 12: Hundreds of protesters on Wednesday stormed a prison where some convicted Bali bombers are being held, shouting for their deaths on the third anniversary of the attacks on the Indonesian island.
The angry demonstrators at Denpasar’s Kerobokan jail managed to remove the prison’s main steel door from its hinges but police stopped them getting inside, an AFP correspondent reported.
“Kill Amrozi, kill Amrozi!” the crowd yelled, referring to one of three people sentenced to death by firing squad for the 2002 nightclub bombings which killed 202 people and dealt tourism on the resort island a heavy blow.
Amrozi and the other two on death row, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, had been transferred on Tuesday to a high-security island prison off neighbouring Java following earlier angry protests.
Several other Bali convicts are still in the Denpasar jail.
Passions are running high following repeat bombings in Bali earlier this month which killed 20 people plus three suicide attackers. The crowd at the prison numbered around 1,000 at its height, including curious onlookers.
Three rows of police armed with batons and shields stood outside the prison’s main entrance. Two truckloads of reinforcements arrived later, bringing the police strength to an estimated 300. But they did not immediately try to break up the crowd.
“If you move more, we will fight,” one protester yelled as the police line began moving forward. It stopped at the front boundary of the prison grounds.
Denpasar police chief Dewa Parsana called on the shouting and drum-beating crowd to disperse and for ‘Bali to remain polite’.
“Balinese are impolite, Amrozi is the polite one,” one protester shouted back sarcastically.
A large group of protesters later left the area and the mood of those remaining grew calmer.
One demonstrator tied a banner on the prison wall reading: “Hello SBY (Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono). Kill the person who has hurt Bali (Amrozi).”
Taxi driver Ketut Seharta, 50, said: “I have been impoverished by the Bali attack. Amrozi and his like have killed all the businesses in Bali. “Kill Amrozi now, in front of all Balinese. I don’t like terrorists,” Seharta said.
Endra, 30, expressed anger that Amrozi had been moved.
“We feel Amrozi is being protected by the government. Balinese are very angry,” he said.
Amrozi was dubbed the ‘smiling bomber’ for his courtroom demeanour which particularly enraged the residents of Bali.—AFP
