An air of "insecurity" lingers at the Indonesian consulate in Sydney, after an incident in which red liquid was splattered at the gates of the premises, the Indonesian Consul General to NSW has said.
Staff at the consulate arrived on Tuesday morning to find red blood-like liquid splattered on the ground at the gates to the building in Maroubra.
"Of course, what happened this morning has created a certain feeling among us, a feeling of insecurity," said Indonesian Consul General for NSW, Queensland and South Australia Yayan GH Mulyana.
He said CCTV footage showed a lone woman arriving at the consulate at around 10.30pm on Monday evening.
She then burst around 10 balloons full of a red liquid outside the gates of the building.
Balloons filled with fake blood thrown at Sydney's Indonesian consulate in seeming Bali 9 executions protest.
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pic.twitter.com/okrujIzzrb — Nine News Brisbane (@9NewsBrisbane)
March 3, 2015
It is understood the incident was a protest against the imminent execution of Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Police attended the scene on Tuesday morning, before a forensics team arrived to take samples to test the origins of the liquid.
The incident is the first protest in the past week at the consulate.
"In the past week there is no protest, but in the last two or three weeks there is a series of protests which were very peaceful," said Mr Mulyana.
"Some people came here and they put banners on the fences of the premises and one lady attached a heart to the fences. Now it begins again. Today is different."
While the incident had created an air of unease at the consulate, Mr Mulyana said he had faith that the relationship between Indonesia and Australia would remain strong despite the imminent execution of Chan and Sukumaran.
"I recognise that now Indonesia and Australian relations are in a delicate episode, but I believe that as before Indonesian and Australian relations and friendships have been deep and strong and I believe that it will be so in coming years," he said.
"I understand that there is a sentiment among Australians, versus [that] among Indonesians...they are having different perspectives on the matter. However there is a point of agreement that no matter what happens in the final stage we will respect each other."
On Tuesday evening it was announced Chan and Sukumaran would be transferred to the execution island of Nusakambangan on Wednesday.
Despite the announcement Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she would "continue to contact counterpart ministers to press for a stay of execution."
