Hundreds stages protest against Israel and America

Ainur R. Sophiaan and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Hundreds of students and religious activists staged separate rallies in the nation's second largest city of Surabaya as well as in Yogyakarta on Friday to protest the United States' stance regarding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Around 200 students from various universities in Surabaya, East Java, marched to the U.S. consulate, while calling America the "real terrorist".

The protesters, comprising activists from the United Front of Indonesian Muslim Students (KAMMI), the Muhammadiyah Student Association (IMM) and the Surabaya Muslim Student Association (HIMMAS), began their march at Bungkul Park, some two kilometers away from the consulate.

They carried banners and posters with slogans expressing strong opposition to both Israel and the United States.

"Destroy Zionist Israel and its lackeys," one banner read. "America is the world's colonialist and Israel is its golden child," another banner said. "Today Palestine, tomorrow Indonesia."

The demonstrators condemned U.S. President George W. Bush's administration for vetoing a United Nations resolution urging Israel to back down from its threat to expel Arafat from the region.

Protest leader Agus Dwiyatmo said the veto deteriorated the international image of the U.S. and would convince people that the superpower was merely Israel's "errand boy".

"All the world communities, particularly Muslim ones, know that the Bush administration is Israel's shepherd, but they hide behind the rhetoric of democracy and world peace," he added.

The protest was held before Friday's Muslim prayers and ended peacefully, even though some demonstrators hurled dirt clods and rocks at the U.S. consulate before they dispersed.

"This is for the U.S.' crime," shouted one protester as he picked up a handful of gravel and heaved it in the general direction of the building.

In Yogyakarta, around 500 supporters and sympathizers affiliated with the Prosperous Justice Party (PK Sejahtera) staged a similar rally against the U.S. and Israel.

They headed en masse from the Yogyakarta legislative council on Jl. Malioboro to the Besar post office on Jl. Trikora, carrying banners and posters expressing disgust with the two countries, Antara reported.

"Israel's threat (against Arafat) is part of the trickery and injustice on earth," Agus Purnomo, chairman of Yogyakarta's PK Sejahtera chapter who led the protest, was quoted as saying.

The demonstrators also urged the World Bank and other financing agencies to freeze accounts of "terrorist states" like Israel, to stop the flow of money for its defense spending.

The Indonesian government should be at the forefront of the call, they added.

The protesters then began calling on Indonesia and other countries to cut ties with the United States, accusing it of supporting state terrorism in the world.

Indonesia should solicit more international support for Palestinian independence by starting a fund drive, they added.

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of PK Sejahtera supporters flooded the two main streets of Sudirman and Thamrin in Jakarta to show support for the Palestinians.