Australian Associated Press, Wednesday November 21, 2001 09:18 PM
Riot-torn Ambon turns into ghost town
Streets, offices and schools were deserted in the Indonesian city of Ambon as
Christians stayed home or prayed in churches to observe three days of mourning
following almost three years of bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians.
"Almost all activities have ground to a halt: education, government, transport," said
Sammy Weileruni, a church lawyer in the capital of the Maluku islands.
More than 5,000 people have died in the unrest, which broke out in January 1999.
"Church leaders have called their congregations to reflect, to stop laying the blame for
the violence," he added, adding that Protestants and Catholics alike prayed in the
same churches.
But he said security personnel and hospital staff remained on duty.
No vehicles except those of security patrols were seen on the city streets, the state
Antara news agency reported.
Weileruni said the Christian community believed the unrest was God's punishment for
their misdeeds.
"All parties have left no stone unturned to stop the unrest but failed. We have come to
realise that this violence can only be stopped by divine intervention," he said.
He said the observance of days of mourning, which started yesterday, had received
approval from the civil emergency authorities. Civil emergency rule was imposed last
year in the Malukus in a bid to halt the unrest.
Last week gunmen in a speedboat shot dead three passengers in another boat in the
latest violence to hit Ambon. Two bombs killed two people and injured 20 others in the
city a day earlier.
Copyright © 2001 AAP Information Services. All Rights Reserved.
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