Police in Indonesia have detained 12 transgender women, cutting their long hair and saying they were "coaching" them to behave like "real men".

Several beauty salons in Aceh province were raided over the weekend and transgender women working there taken to the local police station. The transgender women, who were also forced to wear men's clothes, will be held for three days. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has strict Islamic religious law.

Local Police Chief Ahmad Untung Surianata told the BBC: "We are holding them for three days to give them counselling and coaching. It's going well and now they are all acting like real men." He said his team had carried out the raid, dubbed "Operation Anti Moral Illness", after neighbours complained about the "negative influence" the transgender community could have on their children.

The Indonesian National Commission of Human Rights has condemned the raids, saying the police acted outside the law and their actions were inhuman.

"All citizens deserve protection and to be treated equally," Commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara told the BBC.

"After seeing photos of the raid and the information we have received so far about the raid, it's clear that they violated the police code of conduct. The job of the police should be to protect people, particularly the vulnerable." Read more via BBC