With cries of "Kill them, Kill them!" an angry crowd marked the third anniversary of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings by storming a prison in Indonesia where three men convicted of the attacks were being held. Armed police intervened as a group of between 500 and 1,000 protestors - wearing traditional Balinese headscarves and sarongs - climbed the outer fence of the aging Kerobokan prison in the island's capital Denpasar.
Others tore the steel prison door from its hinges, according to the AFP news agency. A correspondent for Reuters described how protesters reached the access door to the main cells, chanting "Kill Amrozi! Kill! Kill! Kill! ... We have been waiting for three years."
Prison officials said that the three men - Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and his brother Ali Ghufron who have been sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 blasts - were transferred from the city's prison to an island jail off Java last week.
The violence was defused by police and the arrival of a group of traditional musicians from a nearby village. The chanting, and drum-beating continued. One demonstrator tied a banner on the prison wall reading: "Hello SBY [Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudyoyono]. Kill the person who has hurt Bali."
The three Islamic militants have been on death row since 2003. Calls for their immediate execution have intensified amid rising public anger at the fresh wave of attacks on October 1. Later, armed police mingled with mourners at a ceremonyheld to commemorate the 202 people killed when bombs destroyed the packed Sari nightclub and neighbouring Paddy's Bar on October 12, 2002.
Some members of the crowd said they had received an anonymous mobile phone message about four days ago, calling on protesters to assemble at the jail. Most, however, were locals who have suffered from the devastation the bombings have caused to the island's tourist industry.
Authorities have blamed Jemaah Islamiah, seen as the regional arm of al-Qaeda, for the 2002 blasts. Suspicion has also fallen on this or a splinter group for three suicide bombings at crowded restaurants on October 1.