The deputy mayor of Surakarta, in Central Java, says security has been tightened at a local Marian shrine after it was attacked and ransacked by vandals last week.

“Security will be tightened particularly ahead of Christmas celebrations. We have also secured several other important sites, including the Marian Shrine of Mojosongo,” Fransiskus Xaverius Hadi Rudyatmo, said on Saturday.

He was speaking following a reported attack on the Sendang Pawitra Sinar Surya shrine in Tawangmangu, Karanganyar district on Wednesday evening.

A statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated and its head taken. Several statues of angels and the holy water fountains were also destroyed, while a 1.5-meter-high cross was removed from the site.

“I have asked Catholics living near the shrine to stay calm. Everything is being handled by the police,” said Father Yohanes Sunaryadi of St Pius X Church, who said the attack has made local Catholics angry.

Meanwhile, Father Ignatius Djonowasono from Regina St Virgin Mary Church in nearby Purbowardayan said the vandals were not likely to be local people.

“The majority of people living near the shrine are Muslims. But they are good people. Even the caretaker is a Muslim,” the episcopal vicar of Surakarta said.

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