Provided by 7DAYS.ae
Thousands of hardline Muslims shouted for jihad or holy war during a demonstration in the Indonesian capital yesterday unless the government bans a minority sect and releases a detained radical cleric. The protesters cried "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greater) and carried banners calling members of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect "infidels" to be "exterminated" because they do not believe Mohammed is the final prophet.
"If the president doesn't dissolve Ahmadiyah then there is no other way but jihad," co-organiser Abdurrahman, from one of the main Islamist groups in the country, told the crowd outside police headquarters. The crowd responded with a chant of "Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!" Around 5,000 protesters wearing white skullcaps and Islamic headscarves earlier blocked the street in front of the presidential palace in a show of force following a police crackdown on an Islamist extremist group last week.
Later they marched and rode motorcycles five kilometresA to the police headquarters to demand the release of eight radicals detained over a violent attack on a rally for religious tolerance earlier this month. "We are giving the government an ultimatum until Thursday. If they haven't issued the decree (banning Ahmadiyah) by then, after Friday prayers millions of Muslims will take to the streets," an unidentified speaker told the rally.
The furore over the sect has tarnished Indonesia's image as a moderate, mainly Islamic country and stoked unrest amid anger over soaring inflation and fuel prices. "The government should quickly ban Ahmadiyah, they are sinners. Should we allow these infidels to continue to insult Islam?" said teenager Subhan as he marched toward the police station.
Many paraded under pictures of Rizieq Shihab, the detained leader of the Defenders FrontA which has declared "war" on Ahmadiyah. and organised the June 1 attack by stick-wielding fanatics on the pro-tolerance rally.
[c] 2007 Al Sidra Media LLC
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