Warm welcome: A giant portrait of Francis is seen outside the Apec Haus in Port Moresby, ahead of his arrival to Papua New Guinea. — AFP
THE nation arrested seven people for making “terror threats” online against Pope Francis during his visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country this week, police said.
The 87-year-old pontiff made South-East Asia’s biggest economy the first stop of an arduous Asia-Pacific tour, delivering a message of religious unity to counter extremism and intolerance.
The suspects were arrested in cities around the capital Jakarta, and the provinces of West Sumatra and Bangka Belitung, Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit Densus 88 spokesman Aswin Siregar told reporters.
They are accused of posting statements and images online that threatened bomb attacks on the pope’s public meetings in Jakarta.
“Densus 88 has taken legal action against seven individuals... who made threats in the form of propaganda or terror threats via social media in response to the pope’s arrival,” Aswin said.
“There was also a threat to set fire to the locations,” he added.
His schedule included visits to South-East Asia’s biggest mosque, Jakarta’s cathedral, the presidential palace and the national football stadium.
The beliefs of the suspects were not disclosed by authorities but Indonesia has long struggled with militancy.
Bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people and were the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.
Security has been stepped up for the pope’s visit, with roads around key sites where he is scheduled to visit being re-routed or closed.
A security detail of around 4,000 personnel, including snipers, soldiers, police and his security team, protected him before he departed for the rest of his trip in Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Meanwhile, over mountains, by air, and by sea, pilgrims flocked to Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinea capital where Pope Francis landed on a landmark four-day visit.
Pilgrims have also gathered in the northwestern town of Vanimo, where the pope will spend part of tomorrow.
The pontiff will spend four days and three nights in one of the Pacific’s poorest and most troubled nations, addressing bishops, meeting street children, travelling to a remote jungle outpost and holding mass for tens of thousands of his flock. — AFP
