Central Java Police Chief Inspector General Edward Aritonang said six of the suspects were residents of Temanggung district.
"The six suspects are Temanggung district`s residents," he said without revealing their identities.
He spoke to newsmen after attending a ceremony marking the transfer of duties of the Temanggung district`s police chief from Adjunct Senior Commissioner Anthony Agustinus Koylal to Adjunct Senior Commissioner Kukuh Kalis. He said police investigators had also questioned 24 witnesses since Friday morning.
The witnesses were residents of Sigendong village, Tretep subdistrict, Temanggung district, whose ages were between 15 and 23 years old.
Aritonang further said the six suspects functioned as "field coordinators" of a large group of people who attacked several houses of worship.
A pteam of police investigators were now doing their best to identify and locate the masterminds of the violence.
The incident itself was believed by the Central Java provincial police to have been provoked by misleading information disseminated among the public through short text messages saying that Antonius Richmond Bawengan would get a light sentence from the Tamanggung district court.
Edward Aritonang recently said that the court`s panel of judges had actually sentenced him to five years in jail.
The arrested suspects were identified as NHY, AS, SD, MY, SE, AK, AZ, and SM.
According to National Police Chief General Timur Pradopo, it had been established that the people involved in Tuesday`s violence had come from outside Temanggung district.
Two churches, a Catholic school complex as well as a number of vehicles had become the target of mob violence following a clash during the court session on the religious blasphemy case. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
