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Indonesia cracks down on hardliners
Hundreds of police swept through a Jakarta neighborhood Wednesday morning, arresting about 60 members of a hard-line Islamic group blamed for a violent attack last Sunday at an interfaith rally in the capital. Members of the group, the Islamic Defenders Front, assaulted scores of people at the rally with bamboo sticks and rocks, injuring dozens of people, some of them women and children.

On Wednesday, supporters of the Islamic Defender’s Front initially blocked the police by crowding the neighborhood’s maze of narrow alleyways. But police eventually found their way to the group’s headquarters, where they arrested a dozen people. The others were arrested in nearby homes. Police officials said they are now being held at Jakarta’s central police station for questioning.

The Sunday attack triggered strong reactions from moderate Muslim groups and government officials. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attack and several of his ministers said they would look into the possibility of banning the organization.

He said his group would wage a war against Ahmadiyah if it didn’t disband within three days.
Until now, the Islamic Defender’s Front, which is known for its violent attacks on bars, nightclubs and restaurants that serve alcohol, has been largely tolerated by government officials and police. Wednesday’s sweep is the first time any of the group’s members have been taken into custody, although its leader had been jailed briefly in 2004. No arrests were made in response to attacks by the group on a number mosques, schools, and followers of the minority Muslim sect Ahmadiyah over the past few years."

The leader of the Islamic Defender’s Front, Habib Rizieq, said at a press conference that the attack at Sunday’s rally, held by the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion, was in response to support of Ahmadiyah, which has been targeted by hardline Muslims for what they call its “deviant” beliefs. He said his group would wage a war against Ahmadiyah if it didn’t disband within three days.
Posted by: ryuge 2008-06-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=240882