Protest in Indonesia
Around 3,000 people also demonstrated on Monday outside the French embassy in Jakarta in Indonesia – the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation – according to police.
Waving white flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith, demonstrators, many wearing white Islamic robes, filled a major thoroughfare in the capital city.
Authorities blocked streets leading to the embassy where more than 1,000 police and soldiers were deployed in and around the building barricaded with razor wire.
The protesters chanted “God is Great” and “Boycott French products” as they marched. Their banners and placards slammed French President Emmanuel Macron, and some protesters stomped on Macron posters in the blocked streets, while others voiced their anger by burning portraits of Macron.
Smaller protests also occurred in other Indonesian cities, including in Surabaya, Makassar, Medan and Bandung.
On Saturday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice as well as remarks by Macron that were deemed offensive toward Islam and Muslims.
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‘Big mistake’
Widodo said freedom of expression that tarnishes the honour, sanctity and sacredness of religious values and symbols could not be justified and must be stopped.
“Linking religion with terrorist acts is a big mistake,” Widodo said. “Terrorism is terrorism, terrorists are terrorists, terrorism has nothing to do with any religion.”
Protest organiser Slamet Ma’arif told the crowd, including members of the Islamic Defenders Front vigilante group, that Macron was being aggressively hostile to Islam and called for a boycott on French products.
Monday’s protests ended peacefully in the afternoon.
“Islam is a religion which is experiencing a crisis today, all over the world,” Macron had said in his speech after the school teacher’s beheading.
The French Embassy claims Macron made a distinction between Islam and militancy.
“President Emmanuel Macron made it clear that there was no intention at all to generalise, and clearly distinguished between the majority of French Muslims and the militant, separatist minority that is hostile to the values of the French Republic,” the embassy’s statement said.
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