Aceh tears down churches

Temporary measure: Residents praying as they attend Sunday mass at a shelter near a burned church at Suka Makmur Village in Aceh Singkil, Aceh. — Reuters

BANDA ACEH: Indonesian security forces tore down three Christian churches in Aceh, bowing to demands from Muslim hardliners after deadly religious violence rocked the staunchly Islamic province last week.

Local government security officers used sledgehammers to raze two small Protestant churches and a Catholic church – modest buildings of wood, concrete and tin – in the southern district of Aceh Singkil, as Christians looked on and wept.