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Jakarta. An event at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta to hand out free meat turned rowdy on Thursday as thousands jostled and damaged security fences.

The event takes place annually after Idul Adha, the Islamic Day of Sacrifice, as the meat from the goats and cattle killed the day before is handed out to the poor.

Wahyono, administrative secretary of the mosque, said a total of 6,000 coupons had been distributed for the event, each entitling the holder to a kilogram of meat.

“They weren’t patient,” he said. “We opened three counters to serve them from 5 a.m., and in two hours everything was gone.”

Comr. Luthfie Sulistiawan, the chief of the Sawah Besar Police precinct, in which the mosque is located, said the crowd had been disorderly.

“People were trying to climb the gate,” he said. “They were too lazy to wait in line, and when several people started climbing, the rest followed. This prompted the people waiting at the back to jostle forward, and as a result they damaged the fences.”

He added police and mosque officials finally restored order after telling the crowd over the loudspeakers to get back in line.

Luthfie said 175 officers had been on hand for the event.

“There were actually eight lines, four for the women and four for the men,” he said.

“But in the end the lines just got mixed. Some of the children and the elderly had to be taken out of the lines because they fainted.”

Wahyono said each coupon holder received either a packet of beef, mutton, or bones and tripe.

He said the meat came from the 17 cows and 318 goats sacrificed at Istiqlal on Wednesday.

“It was a different number from last year, when we sacrificed 20 cows and 232 goats,” the mosque secretary added.

Wahyono also said the cows had been paid for by several cabinet ministers and government leaders — but declined to name them — and added that 300 of the goats were donated by the Turkish community in Jakarta.

“The rest came from the mosque,” he said.

People flocked to the mosque on foot, by motorcycle and also rented buses from the city’s outskirts and adjacent areas.

Yuni, a resident of Depok, said she came with relatives so that they would each get a coupon.

Martinah, from Galur in Central Jakarta, said she had been waiting in line since dawn.

Not all were there for their next meal, though. Several of those who received the free meat were seen selling it to others for between Rp 15,000 and Rp 25,000 a kilogram.