S’pore churches beef up security for Good Friday, Easter services

[chahlley]

(Singapore Today Friday 14 April 2017)

S’pore churches beef up security for Good Friday, Easter services

The National Council of Churches Singapore said it has been advising member churches,

like the St Andrew’s Cathedral seen here on April 12, to remain vigilant

during the Good Friday weekend. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

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By Kelly Ng - kellyng@mediacorp.com.sg -

Updated: 10:31 AM, April 14, 2017

SINGAPORE — On alert for some time amid the heightened security climate, several churches will be ratcheting up security measures further in the coming days for the Good Friday and Easter weekend.

For example, stringent bag checks will be conducted and the number of security personnel will be beefed up, in line with the measures that were taken during Christmas last year.

Visitors to St Andrew’s Cathedral, for instance, will have their bags checked by external security officers, and big items will be “safe kept” outside the premises until services are over.

The cathedral, which is Singapore’s largest, will be doubling the number of unarmed security officers during its 16 services held this weekend for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This is the first year the church is beefing up security during this occasion, said its manager Kenneth Koh, adding that safety protocols are typically tightened only during the Christmas period.

The church, which is located beside City Hall MRT Station, expects about 1,000 people to turn up for its services on Friday (April 14) and up to 6,000 on Sunday. It will be tapping into a “sizeable” team of church volunteers to be the “eyes and ears” within the service premises.

“We need to strike a balance between being welcoming and ensuring safety … We hope these measures also give comfort that we are doing something,” said Mr Koh.

In response to queries, the National Council of Churches Singapore said it has been advising member churches to remain vigilant. It noted that the Government “has been very proactive in reminding all institutions, too”.

New Creation Church, a megachurch that has gatherings at seven venues around Singapore, will be deploying more security personnel on Sunday as it expects “significantly higher attendance”. Its security measures include stationing trained officers at service venues, coordinating with the authorities such as the police, and ensuring that staff and volunteers know the safety protocol, said the church’s chairman Yong Chee Ram.

Additional measures are also in place at St George’s Church — which is located at Minden Road — to “ensure the safety of our congregants during the Easter period”. However, the church declined to elaborate “for security reasons”.

The church’s vicar Mark Dickens said it has been on “heightened security for quite some time … not just for services, but all other times as well”. For instance, the church’s vergers are required to check service halls before services take place to ensure that unattended items are removed or being attended to. The church’s leadership and administration team is especially cautious because of its “strategic location close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, said Mr Dickens.

“Quite often, I have been removing vehicles that have no reason to be on our premises,” he added.

The increased security measures at churches here over the long weekend come after twin bombings at churches in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria last week, killing 45 on Palm Sunday, which marks the start of the Christian Holy Week.

Since the start of the year, there has been a spate of terror attacks around the world, including in central Stockholm last week when a truck was driven into a crowd, killing four people.

On March 22, a man in London mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing his car into the railings of the palace grounds. Six people were killed and 50 were injured.