The Head of the Protocol Section for the Istiqlal Mosque, Abu Hurairah, denied that he had locked the Istiqlal Mosque for the 212th follow-up mass protest which was to take place in front of the DPR/MPR Building.
"A thousand percent hoax," said Abu when contacted, Tuesday (21/2/2017).
Abu said, according to the standard operating procedures at the Istiqlal Mosque, the doors of the Istiqlal Mosque were closed at 21.30 WIB and would be reopened one hour before the dawn prayer.
"Outside the fasting month, the Isha prayer ends, around 21.30 WIB according to the law, it is closed, sterile. Then it is opened again one hour before dawn. That is outside the fasting month," he explained.
According to him, last night's incident only five buses from East Java that would participate in the 212 action.
"They enter after Isha, then they are given the opportunity to pray and clean up, talk well with the chairman, we give understanding, and thank God they understand and leave istiqlal voluntarily," he said.
He reiterated that there were no crowds who were not allowed to enter the Istiqlal Mosque, according to him, this issue was not true at all.
"The intruders are the people who wrote accusing the PKI. Except for Axis 212, 411, which we expelled the day before and it was an emergency. There was no coordination, they didn't take action like 212," he said.