by Andy Supriyadi

Some 200 men stormed a chapel at the end of last Saturday afternoon service forcing its closure and demanding an end to all liturgical service.

Margahayu (AsiaNews) – A group of about 200 Islamic extremists forcibly shut down a Catholic Chapel in Margahayu, which is linked to the Buah Batu's parish church in West Java, shortly after the 6:30 pm Saturday service (local time).

Right after mass, the Islamists approached the celebrating priest, Father Iwan Pr, and told him to immediately close the chapel and stop all liturgical service.

With the help of some parishioners from the Margahayu Catholic community, Father Iwan had to close the premises to avoid any violence against the gathered Catholics.

Every attempt to talk with the Islamists failed because they were only interested in one thing: shut down the chapel.

Father Iwan and an important member of the congregation were forced to sign a statement agreeing to the building's closure, but they did so under false names.

No sooner had the Islamists left that local authorities arrived to apologise for the incident. However, they did nothing else.

Sources told AsiaNews that neither the local precinct chief or Pak Camat nor local or West Java police intervened to prevent the chapel closure.

This is not an isolated incident—Islamic fundamentalism is growing in the region. In the last year, militants for the Islamic Defender Front, a local extremist group, forcibly closed 23 Christian churches.

Against this trend, moderate Muslim leader like former President Abdurrahman Wahid (aka Gus Dur) have called on the government to "intervene quickly and decidedly" to defend Christians.

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• closure
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