Terrorism, Covid-19 cast cloud over Easter celebrations in Indonesia

Mr Rachmat Harjono Tengadi outside the Indonesia Christian Church in Surabaya following Good Friday service on April 2, 2021. PHOTO: JEFF HUTTON
A police officer inspecting church pews in Surabaya last Thursday. Security forces were on heightened alert following the terror attack in Makassar on Palm Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS
A police officer inspecting church pews in Surabaya last Thursday. Security forces were on heightened alert following the terror attack in Makassar on Palm Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS
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SURABAYA - Terrorism - and a raging pandemic - cast a pall over Easter week in Indonesia.

As members of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar count the cost of bomb blasts on Palm Sunday (March 28) that injured 20, the congregation of Surabaya's Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) 820km away were under heavy police protection after it and two other churches were attacked in 2018.

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