Hundreds of loyalist Muslims staged a noisy protest in Indonesia's eastern city of Ambon against independence supporters flying flags attached to air balloons to mark the anniversary of a separatist group.
Security forces, including Maluku military commander Brigadier General Mustopo, tried to calm about 1,000 Muslim protesters gathering in the Trikora area in downtown Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, on Thursday.
The crowd was angered by the authorities' failure to stop the flying of the separatist flags. There were no reports of violence so far. Troops blocked roads to prevent the protesters from marching to Christian areas.
Separatists used air balloons to fly about 10 flags of the South Maluku Republic (RMS), a separatist movement with a predominantly Christian support base, to mark the 52nd anniversary of the group. Security forces managed to shoot down two of the flags.
Meanwhile a source at the Maluku governor office said about 220 RMS flags were seized Thursday on Haruku island off the northeastern coast of Ambon in Central Maluku.
People loyal to Dutch colonial rule declared the RMS in 1950 and staged a revolt against newly-independent Indonesia, but the rebellion was quashed and the movement has since been active mostly abroad. RMS activities in Maluku resurfaced after widespread sectarian unrest broke out in Ambon in January 1999.
Officials have already put in place a series of measures to prevent the RMS from upsetting a fragile state-brokered peace agreement reached between warring Muslim and Christian camps in February.
Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina, who heads the civil emergency authority set up in Maluku in September 2000, has extended a nightly curfew by three hours, closed the province to foreigners and non-governmental organizations and imposed a news blackout on RMS activities for 20 days as of April 10.
He has also banned access to the area surrounding the home of Alex Manuputty, the RMS leader arrested last week and set to be charged with subversion, where an RMS flag-raising ceremony had been planned for Wednesday.
Muslims have accused the predominantly Christian RMS of fanning sectarian violence that has ravaged Maluku since January 1999, killing more than 5,000 people, displacing more than 500,000 others and leaving a swathe of destruction.
Christians say Laskar Jihad, a Java-based militia group which has sent thousands of Muslim fighters to the eastern islands since May 2000, has played a major part in fanning the violence.
Police on April 17 arrested Manuputty and said they were planning to charge him with subversion, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Since his arrest, some 200 Manuputty supporters have held daily protests outside police headquarters in Ambon to demand his release. They have also said they plan to go ahead with the flag-raising ceremony.
More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 214 million people are Muslims but in some eastern regions, including the Malukus, Christians make up about half the population.