Christians riot, too, if you get them pissed off enough....
Christians riot over executions ; Burn Indonesian prison, loot shops
IRWAN FIRDAUS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
23 September 2006
The Record
PALU, Indonesia Christian mobs torched cars, looted Muslim- owned shops and burned a prison, freeing hundreds of inmates, in violence touched off by Friday's executions of three Roman Catholics convicted of instigating attacks on Muslims.
On the island of Flores, the executed men's birthplace, machete- wielding mobs ran through the streets Friday, sending women and children running in panic, police and witnesses said.
Police and media reports said at least four people were hurt, including a prosecutor who was hospitalized with stab wounds.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla appealed for calm, saying the deaths of the three men had nothing to do with religion.
"It's a matter of law," he said in the capital, Jakarta. "If the people resent the law, we are doomed."
Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, were found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks on Muslims in May 2000 that left at least 70 people dead.
Human rights workers say the men's 2001 trial was a sham, and that while it was possible the men took part in some of the violence, they almost certainly were not the leaders.
The men were taken before the firing squad at 12:15 a.m. (2:15 p.m. EDT Thursday), said a senior police officer who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Family members later said they had received confirmation of the deaths.
Palu, where the executions took place, was largely calm, with thousands of police standing on street corners and guarding markets and churches. But violence flared in the Sulawesi villages of Tentena and Lage, where hundreds of Christians rampaged after learning of the deaths.