WEST JAVA, INDONESIA (ANS) -- Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that Public Order personnel supported Bogor police officers as they demolished a house where a church regularly met in a village in Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia, on Monday (July 19, 2010).

CDN said that clashes broke out with church members and others as police tore down the Narogong Pentecostal Church building in Limusnunggal village, Cileungsi sub-district, and officers arrested 10 people.

“Those arrested were questioned and released,” said the CDN story. “Some officers and a civilian were reportedly injured. Local residents, including non-Christians, had accepted the presence of the church, said local Block Captain Junaedi Syamsudin, but a group called the Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnanggal has worked since 2008 to have the church eliminated.

“Three months ago members of the forum went to Cileungsi offices to object to the church’s presence, Syamsudin said, and the regent promised to demolish the house.”

The story went on to state that Eddy Hidayat, head of Bogor police operations, said the house “lacked a use permit.”

The building coordinator for the Pentecostal church, Hotlan P. Silaen, said police were not neutral in the dispute.

“The clash with citizens could have been avoided if the police had been neutral and not been goaded into a situation that caused bodily harm,” Silaen said.

CDN concluded its story with news that the Rev. Rekson Sitorus has revealed that the church will take "legal action" against those responsible for demolishing the house, including the Bogor administration.

For more information, go to: www.compassdirect.org. 

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available here