This morning, thousands of members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) are marching to protest at Indonesian National Police Headquarters in Jakarta to demand the removal of West Java Police Chief Anton Charliyan, who the extremist group argues should be sacked for acting as an adviser to an FPI rival group, the Indonesian General Society Movement (GMBI).
Last Thursday, the spiritual leader of FPI, Habib Rizieq, went to West Java Police Headquarters in Bogor to be questioned in the case of his alleged blasphemy against the Pancasila. Waiting for him were hundreds of FPI members as well as members of GMBI who were there to protest again Rizieq. Members of both organizations got into a large-scale brawl after Rizieq’s questioning and there were rumors that an FPI member got stabbed (which turned out to be a hoax).
Early Friday morning, police say a group of around 150 assailants descended on GMBI’s secretariat office in Ciampea and torched it to the ground in retaliation. At first, police suggested that it was members of FPI behind the attack, but later, they said that the 12 people they arrested over the arson were merely FPI sympathizers, not actual members of the hardline group. Jamaludin, the secretary general of FPI’s Bogor chapter, said his organization never ordered the attack and that those who carried it out probably did so because “their love of Rizieq is so great”.
As if the burning down of GMBI’s headquarters was not enough, FPI announced yesterday that they would be protesting in front of National Police Headquarters this morning to demand that National Police Chief Tito Karnavian sack West Java Police Chief Anton Charliyan, who is an advisor to GMBI.
“We demand that the national police chief remove the West Java police chief from his post for his involvement in inciting thugs to attack the ulemas,” FPI Jakarta head Novel Bamukmin said yesterday as quoted by Tempo.
Novel also said that GMBI members had been allowed to carry weapons during their protest at the West Java Police Station and that Anton had allowed them to do so in order to attack FPI members.
FPI members began their protest at Al-Azhar Mosque in Kebayoran Baru at 9am and are marching on to police headquarters from there. Police say that have prepared about 2,800 personnel to secure the protest, which they estimated would bring together about 5,000 members of FPI and other hardline groups.
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