Hundreds stages protest against Israel and America
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.