JAKARTA, Jan 2, 2009 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Indonesian Muslims carrying banners and Palestinian flags staged a peaceful protest in the capital Jakarta Friday to condemn Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, police said.
The demonstrators gathered in the city centre to pray for the safety of Palestinians before marching to the US embassy, punching their fists in the air and chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).
Organiser the Prosperous Justice Party had said it hoped to attract 200,000 people for the protest, which came as Israeli jets continued to pound militant targets for the seventh straight day.
“This is to show the world that Indonesians possess solidarity and understand the sufferings of the Palestinians,” the party’s deputy head Hilman Rosyad Syihab said.
The group hoped to raise 200,000 dollars for the Palestinians from the rally, he added.
“They want to protest against the Israeli airstrikes. We can handle the large number as long as they don’t become aggressive and throw stones or bottles,” national police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said.
There was heavy security for the rally, with about 500 police officers deployed, most of them outside the US embassy, local news website Detikcom reported. Two armoured police vehicles equipped with water cannons also stood by.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian struggle for nationhood, and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
It has condemned the massive Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip and said it would send cash and medical aid to Palestinian victims.
The offensive, launched Saturday in response to a wave of Palestinian-fired rockets, has killed over 400 people so far, while rockets fired from Gaza have claimed four Israeli lives.
TEHRAN, Jan 2, 2009 (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki hit out at the international community for not doing more in the face of Israel’s deadly blitz on Gaza on Friday and demanded an immediate halt to the assault.
“We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, a halt to the attacks and aid for the population of Gaza as well as an end to the (Israeli) blockade of the Palestinian territory and the opening up of all the borders, particularly the ports,” Mottaki said in a sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers here.
Mottaki accused the Israeli navy of behaving like “a bunch of Somali pirates” after a patrol boat collided with an aid boat carrying medicines and international activists trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza on Tuesday.
Iran is a staunch supporter of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.
The death toll from Israel’s aerial pounding of Gaza reached at least 420 on Friday as it entered its seventh day.
No comments:
Post a Comment