Indonesia arrests 29 suspects for plotting attack on poll rallies

Bloomberg

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of extremists linked to IS, who authorities said were plotting attacks next week on political rallies outside the nation’s election commission office during the announcement of the official result of the presidential vote.
Most of the 29 suspects detained in the past two weeks were former IS extremists, who fought for several years in Syria, and are members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a local terror group, Mohammad Iqbal, a spokesman for the National Police, told reporters in Jakarta. The militants were planning to attack political workers on May 22 as they considered democracy as forbidden by Islam, he said.
Supporters of Prabowo Subianto, who challenged President Joko Widodo in last month’s vote, are expected to protest outside the General Elections Commission on May 22 when the agency is set to announce the re-election of the incumbent.
Prabowo, as Subianto in commonly known, has rejected unofficial quick counts and an official tally showing Widodo, known as Jokowi, in commanding lead. The former general has alleged massive irregularities in the conduct of the poll and vote count.
Police remain on high alert in Indonesia in anticipation of Prabowo supporters hitting the street to protest his defeat. Officers are deployed at locations around Jakarta, and are guarding the commission’s office. “The risk remains greater from extremists who never
left than from returning fighters,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta and an expert in terrorism in Southeast Asia.