Ba'asyir's devotees stage protest

Ba'asyir's devotees stage protest

Sri Wahyuni and Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post,
Surakarta/Yogyakarta

Hundreds of alumni from Al-Mukmin Islamic Boarding School went on
strike in Yogyakarta on Wednesday to protest the police arrest of
their headmaster and terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Calling the methods used by police to forcibly remove the
suspect an "abduction", the protesters gathered at the state-run
radio station RRI in the city. After demanding that Ba'asyir be
released immediately, the protesters marched to the nearby
Yogyakarta provincial legislature building.

They accused the U.S. of waging war against Islam and Muslim
people ever since President George Bush's government and its
allies began to notice that many terrorist acts had been the work
of Muslim figures.

"As Muslims and citizens, we declare that we will continuously
fight against the U.S.'s arbitrary policy aimed at discrediting
Islam," said Fachrurrozi who led the demonstration.

Meanwhile, the situation in nearby Surakarta has been tense,
but relatively calm in the last two days despite a violent clash
between the police and the disciples of Ba'asyir during his
forced removal from Surakarta to Jakarta.

The students from the Al Mukmin Islamic Boarding School in
Ngruki, who had been on guard at the Muhammadiyah hospital in the
town to block the police from arresting him, have reportedly gone
back to their campus.

The police, however, have made a concerted effort to
strengthen security in several areas of the city, especially in
Sebelas Maret University's campus and the Islamic Boarding School
in Ngruki, Sukoharjo.

"We are here in anticipation of possible violence amid strong
rumors that Ba'asyir's supporters will disturb the security in
the town to protest Ba'asyir's detention in Jakarta," said one
policeman.

Hundreds of Ba'asyir loyalists were involved in a bloody clash
with security personnel when the police took Ba'asyir from the
hospital by force on Monday.

Several security personnel and protesters were injured in the
incident.

Beforehand, Ba'asyir's followers also staged a demonstration
in the city to protest the police's decision to declare Ba'asyir
a suspect in the alleged plot to kill President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and the bombing of several churches in the 2001
Christmas.

On Tuesday, some 100 members of the Muhammadiyah Student
Association (IMM) went on strike in the town to protest
Ba'asyir's arrest with a call for Megawati to ask for "divine
inspiration", instead of bowing U.S. President George Bush's
demands, in fighting terrorism.

Ba'asyir became sick and checked himself into the hospital on
Oct. 18 with an unspecified illness when he was declared a
suspect for masterminding series of bombing attacks in the
country and a plot to kill the president.

Ba'asyir has denied the charges for which he could face the
death penalty, saying the charges were manufactured by the U.S.
and its allies to discredit Islam.

According to Ba'asyir, his arrest was illegal as doctors had
not yet recommended that he was healthy for the police
interrogation.

The police, however, claimed he was fit enough to be taken to
Jakarta.

Ba'asyir is now in the National Police Hospital in Jakarta,
where doctors have examined him and declared him physically fit
for police interrogation.

A number of politicians, including Vice President Hamzah Haz,
who was once a vocal Ba'asyir defender, has expressed his support
for the police investigation of Ba'asyir.