By Hundreds of thousands gathered in protest in the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia, home to the world’s greatest number of moderate Muslims, after its Christian governor was accused of insulting the Qur’an. The rally soon turned violent, as tear gas and water cannons were used to dispel the demonstrators, supposedly killing one elderly man and injuring 160 demonstrators and 79 police officers in the process.
The governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, was accused of insulting Islam after he criticized his Muslim opponents running in the February elections — who had initially used Qur’anic references to attack Purnama.
As of now, Purnama has apologized, President Joko Widodo has met religious and political leaders seeking to deter further violence, and police officers are working to ease tensions between the frustrated demonstrators by holding collective prayers and calling for peace on social media platforms.
The event caused an instant backlash, as nearly 200,000 Indonesians called for Purnama’s prosecution as a result of his blasphemous comments that he insisted were not meant to criticize the Qur’an, but instead aimed toward his opponents who had initially used them as an offensive attack on his campaign. The sheer size dwarfed a similar protest that was held late last month in front of Jakarta’s city hall.
Protestors chanted, “Kill Ahok!” and, “Kill Ahok for insulting Islam!” during a march from Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta to the Presidential palace.
As of now, Purnama has apologized, President Joko Widodo has met religious and political leaders seeking to deter further violence, and police officers are working to ease tensions between the frustrated demonstrators by holding collective prayers and calling for peace on social media platforms.
The protest, alongside a string of similar ones across other cities, will undoubtedly taint the February elections and potentially eliminate the second-ever Christian contender, and first-ever Chinese runner, in a Muslim majority city out of the election.
Its good to see that the worlds largest “moderate” muslim population are so understanding and tolerant, I mean they were only calling for his death because he was defending himself from bigoted comments by others who were also quoting from the Quran.
Jakarta muslim girl here, and no, we didn’t all protest or agree with the protest, so fangs back in boys plz.
There are NO “moderate” moslems/mozlems in islam. Violence/murder/rape/revenge is ALL they understand?????⚔️⚔️⚔️??????????????????????