Reports have begun popping up that police in Indonesia’s most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert last Saturday and detained 65 fans, shaving off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values. PunkNews reported it nicely saying:

Some rather distressing news coming from Republic of Indonesia today. The country – which is also the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation – arrested 64 music fans at a charity concert in Banda Aceh’s Taman Budaya park on Saturday night. Though they are not (and cannot) actually be charged with any crime, the regular and Shari’ah police are planning to do some rather barbaric things to the kids. Aceh police chief Inspector. General Iskandar Hasan said this:

There will be a traditional ceremony. First their hair will be cut. Then they will be tossed into a pool. The women’s hair we’ll cut in the fashion of a female police officer. Then we’ll teach them a lesson. We’ll change their disgusting clothes. We’ll replace them with nice clothes. We’ll give them toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, sandals and prayer gear. It will all be given to them. I’ll remind [police] not to breach human rights. We are oriented to educating our community, our nation. This is our country too, right?

Evi Narti Zain, executive director of the Aceh Human Rights Coalition, said the police’s action was violent and illegal:

What is this education? The police’s action is inconsistent because the punks did nothing wrong, Punk music is their way of expressing themselves. It is normal and is found all around the world. It’s their right to express their freedom. There’s nothing wrong with punk kids.

Check out the full report here. Indonesia has had a reputation as a bastion of moderate Islam but last year, the country embraced Shariah law which led to accusations of human rights violations. This isn’t even the first time Shariah police have cracked down on punk fans. 

You can also read more reports here.