http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/05/news/web.0305indo.php
Thousands rally against U.S. in Jakarta
The Associated Press
SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2006
JAKARTA, Indonesia Thousands of Muslims rallied in front of the tightly
guarded U.S. Embassy in Indonesia on Sunday, demanding American troops leave
Iraq and Afghanistan and calling President Bush a terrorist.
The protesters, many of whom were from the hardline group Hizbut Tharir,
were kept well away from the mission, which is ringed by two concrete walls and
barbed wire. Some 2,000 police stood watch and two water cannons stood by, but
the rally ended peacefully.
"Out of Iraq," the protesters chanted, gathering for hours under the
blazing sun in the capital, Jakarta. "Bush is a terrorist."
Anti-American sentiment in Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim nation
- rose sharply after the 2001 and 2003 invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and
anger at the United States flared following the publication of the Prophet
Muhammad cartoons in mostly European newspapers.
Some 5,000 people turned out for Sunday's rally, roughly half of them
women and children. Hizbut Tharir, the protest's organizer, has long campaigned
for an Islamic state in Indonesia.
"This is an example of real colonialism, there is no other reason for
them to be (in Iraq)," protester Muhammad Ismail Yusanto told the gathering. He
demanded that the West "stop the propaganda campaign against Islam in the guise
of the war on terrorism."
U.S. Embassy spokesman Max Kwak thanked Indonesian police for helping
maintain order and said he respected the right of Indonesians to freedom of
speech and assembly, "two of the pillars of democracy."
Last week, the U.S. mission warned Americans to keep a low profile and
"exercise caution if caught in the vicinity of any demonstrations."
Protesters also carried placards condemning Israel and a U.S. mining
company - New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. - which is
accused of large-scale environmental damage at the site of its biggest mine in
Papua province.
Indonesia is a moderate Islamic country with significant Christian, Hindu
and Buddhist minorities. It has a long tradition of secularism, and is seen by
Washington as a close ally in the war on terror.
The two nations have had close ties since the mid-1960s when a pro-U.S.
military dictatorship seized power in Jakarta. The regime was replaced by a
democratic government in 1999.
Hundreds of hardline Muslims turned out for protests last month, some
attacking the U.S. Embassy with sticks and rocks.
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