Indonesia’s ongoing crackdown on the LGBTI community has intensified with the arrest of 10 ‘suspected lesbian’ women.

Police in Padang, West Sumatra arrested the 10 women after someone reported them for being LGBTI. The person saw a photo of of one of the women kissing and hugging another woman in a Facebook photo.

‘The growing issue of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender / Transsexual (LGBT) behavior that has troubled the public,’ police said in a statement.

After the tip-off police sent an officer to on a ‘reconnaissance’ to find the ‘indecent’ perpetrators. They arrested the women on Sunday (4 November).

‘Almost every day we get reports from the public regarding this LGBT issue, therefore to follow up on this report we do development and reconnaissance,’ said Head of Padang’s police, PP Yadrison. ‘On a Facebook account some of the photos uploaded by the account owner shows two women cuddling and kissing like men and women.’

Yadrison sent the women to an ‘education program’ at the Office of Social Affairs so that they can learn to fit into society better.

Following the women’s arrests, police raided local boarding houses to try and find more LGBTI people. While they did not find any suspected LGBTI people, they did find unmarried men and women living together. Read more via Gay Star News