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Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
A group of punks are detained in Bandah Aceh police station in Aceh province, Indonesia, on Dec. 13, 2011. Sharia police are "morally rehabilitating" more than 60 young punk rock fans, saying the youths tarnish the province's staunch Islamic image.
The Associated Press reports from BANDA ACEH, Indonesia:
Police in Indonesia's most conservative province stripped away body piercings and buzzed off spiky mohawks from 65 youths detained at a punk-rock concert because of their perceived threats to Islamic values.
The teens and young men were also stripped of dog-collar necklaces and chains and then thrown in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said Wednesday.
After replacing their "disgusting" clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked "use it."
Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
Police escort the youths through the police school compound in Aceh Besar.
AP
Plain-clothed police officers shave the heads of the punks.
It was the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million people to have imposed Islamic laws.
Punk rockers have complained for months about harassment, but Saturday's roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the most dramatic.
Baton-wielding police broke up the concert, scattering young music lovers, many of whom had traveled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation.
Dozens were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention center in the hills for rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Quran recitation.
They will be held there for at least 10 days, after which they'll be returned to their parents.
Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
A youth grimaces as his spiky mohawk — deemed insulting to Islamic traditions — is buzzed off.
Twenty-year-old punk, Fauzan, was mortified.
"Why? Why my hair?!" he said, pointing to his cleanly shaven head. "We didn't hurt anyone. This is how we've chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?" Read the full story.
AP
After being shorn of their locks, the youths were thrown in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing.
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Well, Bachman, Gingrich, Perry, Santorum and a host of other rightwing, So-Called chrisitans would love to see this same crap in this country too. Where religion takes precedent, freedoms suffer . . . always, eh?
Jeb, you are so full of sh!t.
ditto that. You're just trying to incite those who dont know better.
Once again, Islam shows that it is all about love and tolerance.
I wonder how many of these kids will now think about how to build bombs and fight the Religious NAZIs? Punkers tend to be peaceful rock and rollers, but when faced with totalitarianism, then I think they will fight back.
If they do, I hope they at least go for the Imams first and are selective about who they take out.
Long term they won't be able to keep this up, those kids will organize, grow up and slaughter them all. Give it a few years or months.
Were they caught in the act of committing a crime? If not then this is emotional abuse. Most young people go through a stage in their life where they want to be free and rebellious. From my own experience in with dealing with young people I find kindness and understanding works best. You just have to be firm and let them know there are consequences to their actions which is obvious what the Indonesian police are are trying to do but it won't work because they are being bullies and building resentment. Music and fun are not crimes!
Did you even read it? There was no real crime.
"Police in Indonesia's most conservative province stripped away body piercings and buzzed off spiky mohawks from 65 youths detained at a punk-rock concert because of their perceived threats to Islamic values."
A threat to Islamic values...
impatient girl:
Yes I read the article but you obviously didn't get my point. Sorry I forgot Islamic values are the absolute perfect way to live your life on planet Earth and how dare I have a different opinion for their actions! Damn there I go again expressing myself. Thank God I don't live in Indonesia.
It is kind of ironic, because this is what the Dutch colonial powers used to do to young men who were supporting Indonesian independence back in the 1930's and '40's...
What a travesty. I don't understand how the people of Aceh tolerate that kind of bullying. I hope the teens and 20-somethings of that province rise up violently against the moral police.
Perhaps - if they had a good education and jobs - that would be more important than a hair cut.