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Indonesia Islamists protest over alcohol

13 January 2012 01:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Hundreds of radical Muslims attacked the offices of Indonesia’s home affairs ministry on Thursday to demand the government maintain by-laws banning alcohol in certain districts, APA reports quoting AFP.

Around 500 protesters, including members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), hurled rocks and eggs at the office complex in Jakarta to reject a proposal to revoke anti-alcohol rules in force in some areas, Kompas.com news website said.

"Alcohol... has proven to be very harmful to people’s health and peace. There is no good reason to revoke the bylaws," the group’s secretary-general Muhammad al-Khaththath was quoted as saying.

FPI wants Indonesia to follow Islamic sharia law and has launched a series of violent vigilante attacks since 2000, with targets including the US embassy and nightclubs.

Footage on the BeritaJakarta.com website showed stick-wielding protesters -- clad in white robes and Muslim caps -- shouting slogans and climbing over the fence to enter the ministry’s premises.

Protests were also held in front of the governor’s office and local parliament building in Medan, capital of North Sumatra province, Antara state news agency reported.

"Revoking the anti-alcohol bylaw is akin to revoking the commands of Allah," FPI provincial chief M Dahrul Yusuf was quoted as saying.

Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and most of its 200 million Muslims are moderates.

But the country has struggled to deal with a radical fringe of extremists who have carried out numerous attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.