Indonesian police forcibly cut the hair of a group of transgender women and made them wear “male” clothing, authorities have said, amid a crackdown on the LGBT community in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

The incident happened after police raided several beauty salons in conservative Aceh province on Sunday and rounded up a dozen trans employees over claims they had teased a group of boys. Police accused the employees of violating the province’s religious laws.

Dozens of locals tried to attack the group of beauticians as they were taken to the police station, but they were pushed back by authorities, they said. Police then cut some of their long hair with scissors, as well as forcing them to wear “male” clothing and speak in “masculine” voices.

“We have reports from mothers that their sons were teased by the transgender women,” local police chief Ahmad Untung Surianata said. “Their numbers are growing here – I don’t want that,” he added. Surianata said the trans women would be held for “three days to give them counselling and coaching. It’s going well and now they are all acting like real men”.

Amnesty International’s Indonesia director, Usman Hamid, said: “The police’s so-called ‘re-education’ of transgender people is not only humiliating and inhumane, it is also unlawful and a clear breach of their human rights. Such incidents must be promptly and effectively investigated.” Read more via the Guardian