Anti Belo demonstration

Anti Belo demonstration

YOGYAKARTA: About 1,000 Moslem students held a demonstration
yesterday at the Gadjah Mada University against East Timor's
Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo over his stand in last month's
religious violence in Dili.

The banner-waving demonstrators charged that Belo was seeking
to turn East Timor into an exclusive Catholic territory, and that
he had no respect for Moslems in the former Portuguese colony.

"Belo, get out," a poster said. "Belo coward" and "NGOs, why
do you keep silent", read others. The protesters were mostly
students of the Gadjah Mada University and the Indonesian Islamic
University.

Under the watchful eyes of security officers, protesters took
turns at the podium and shouted their anger at the bishop, who
has denied press reports that he demanded an exclusively Catholic
status for East Timor.

Rioters targeted migrants, mostly Moslems, when they went on
the rampage in the streets of Dili between Sept. 2 and 14.
Several mosques and Protestant churches were burned down.

The demonstrators charged that Belo had nurtured religious
fanaticism and "used the Vatican for his personal ends." (02/pan)