TEMPO.CO, Kupang – The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor) will deploy hundreds of members of its paramilitary wing, known as Banser, to secure churches in the province ahead of the upcoming Easter celebrations.
"Hundreds of Banser personnel have been readied to protect churches during Easter celebrations,” NTT GP Ansor head Abdul Muis told Tempo on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.
Abdul said the security measures his organization took this year were different from those in previous years, as this year the steps were taken covertly. He added, however, that Banser would preserve coordination with the churches’ youths in the province.
“We always ready our Banser personnel during Christians’ religious celebrations,” he said, adding that the Banser personnel would assist the police in securing churches.
He also said that his organization had always been vigilant against any possible action by sympathizers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), especially ahead of Easter celebrations. “We reject ISIS in our region. There will be no ISIS during Easter,” he enthused.
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