Tensions have risen in the religiously divided island of Ambon in Maluku province with a number of shootings over the past few days.

Today a man, Saeful Wakano, in the Muslim suburb of Batu Merah was shot as he crossed the street. Wakano, a university student, has been taken to nearby Almukadam hospital, reports gave.

After the shooting angry residents came onto the streets and some claimed that the shooting had been done from a police patrol car. The crowd burned tyres on the street and demanded that security forces leave the area. However the reports suggest that the security forces’ attempts to get the demonstators to return to their homes turned into farce when tensions arose among them as well. Army and police officers were reported to have been in a tense, well-armed stand-off whose origins seemed to revolve around an incident on Friday morning, 3/3, when a serving military man was said to have been badly treated by police officers in front of a police station in Tantui, Ambon.

There are significant tensions in Ambon between the military and police forces presently and recent days have seen two deaths among them. The men, one a police officer, and one an army topographical officer, were killed in mysterious circumstances separately.