JAKARTA: Indonesian police have detained 141 men, including several foreigners, for allegedly taking part in a homosexual party at a sauna, an official said Monday.
On Sunday, officers raided a building in Jakarta and halted what they said was a sex party promoted as “The Wild One.”
Police said four foreigners were among those arrested — one Briton, one Singaporean and two Malaysians.
“Our officers did an undercover investigation and raided the place on Sunday,” senior detective Nasriadi, who goes by one name, told AFP.
Homosexuality is legal everywhere in Indonesia except in Aceh province, but Nasriadi said that 10 of those arrested in the Jakarta raid could be charged under the country’s tough anti-pornography laws.
Since last year, ministers and influential Islamic groups have been lining up to publicly denounce homosexuality.
Those found guilty of breaking the laws face up to 10 years in jail.
The other detained men are still being questioned by police as potential witnesses in the case.
Some of the detainees were Monday paraded in front of the media at a press conference wearing black masks.
Last week, an Islamic court in Aceh sentenced two men to be publicly caned for having gay sex, the first time such a punishment has been handed down for homosexual activities in the province.
Indonesian police make mass arrests over ‘homosexual party’
Indonesian police make mass arrests over ‘homosexual party’
Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver.
The U-Haul truck, with its side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The police department confirmed its officers were on the scene but didn’t immediately say if anyone was arrested.
Two people were evaluated by paramedics and both declined treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Several hundred people had gathered Sunday afternoon in the Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian theocracy. The LA police department eventually issued a dispersal order, and by 5 p.m. only about a hundred protesters were still at the scene, ABC7 reported.
Activists say a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed more than 530 people. Protesters flooded the streets in Iran’s capital of Tehran and its second-largest city again Sunday.
