DENPASAR, Indonesia - Scores of Balinese wearing traditional costumes on Monday urged the immediate execution of three Indonesian militants sentenced to death over the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
Organisers said the march to the Denpasar High Court was partly prompted by the latest bombings on the island on Oct. 1 which killed 23 people, including three suicide bombers who walked into restaurants with explosives hidden in backpacks.
"Kill Amrozi," shouted around 100 protesters, some wearing colourful Balinese sarongs and flowers in their ears, as they marched to the court in Bali's capital Denpasar.
Amrozi is one of three militants on death row over the 2002 attacks, which killed mainly foreign tourists. He was the first militant arrested and was dubbed the smiling bomber for his expressions of delight at the blasts during court appearances.
The protest underscores the level of anger over the 2002 bombings and the latest attacks on the Hindu island paradise, which prides itself on being a place of peace and beauty and where tourism is again being affected.
"Clearly the sense of justice among Balinese has been hurt because we have not seen the execution of Amrozi and his friends," said Wayan Semara Cipta, a student leader.
"Maybe Balinese have not paid attention to this. But since the latest bombings, emotions are quite high."
Denpasar lies not far from Bali's famous Kuta Beach, where militants blew up two nightclubs on Oct. 12, 2002 in suicide attacks blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.
Police said they would deploy 1,500 personnel to secure commemorative events in Bali marking the third anniversary of that atrocity on Wednesday.
One of the guests will be Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Australia lost 88 citizens, the most of any nation, in the 2002 blasts.
Some 30 militants have been arrested and tried over those attacks. The three men on death row have almost exhausted their appeals process. Execution is carried out by firing squad.
Suspicion has also fallen on Jemaah Islamiah over the latest attacks that killed 15 Indonesians, four Australians and one Japanese.
Police have questioned 230 people but no one has been arrested or charged. However, police say they narrowly missed catching a senior Jemaah Islamiah operative, Noordin M. Top, in central Java last week.
Noordin and fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, identified by police and intelligence officials as leaders of Jemaah Islamiah, have also played key roles in other bombing attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Jemaah Islamiah seeks to create an Islamic state across broad swathes of Muslim Southeast Asia, experts say.
Most Muslims in Indonesia are moderate, although militancy and conservative practices have grown in recent years.
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